Social networking vs antisocial networking

As a 90s baby, I vaguely remember life before the takeover of mobile phones and the casualness of Instagramming your morning porridge. The things I do remember are home phones that were attached to the wall and hand-held camcorders that captured priceless moments of growing up. These have now been replaced by smart phones and it seems like a totally different world.

These days it’s the norm to talk to people on Whatsapp rather than make the effort to go and see them and it’s not unusual to spend time with someone who is more interested to be scrolling through Instagram liking Amber Rose’s nudes rather than engaging in actual conversation with you. So here we are going to explore the pros and cons of social networking in modern day society…

Cons:

1. Anti-social networking

It is regularly argued that the dominance of online presence has decreased the value of real human connection. After all, it doesn’t feel so good when you go on a day out with someone and they’re constantly Whatsapping their friends and you’re sitting there like a dickhead. It’s even worse when they walk along typing because they walk painfully slow and you end up wishing you’d stayed in bed (mum, take note).

2. Arguments

No matter who you are, I’m sure you’ve been unimpressed with someone over something you’ve seen on social media whether someone’s uploaded a mug-shot of you, followed half a dozen underwear models on Instagram (and made you feel like a fugly potato) or written something flirty on someone else’s posts. Social media does and will always contribute to bad feelings of some sort!

3. Stalking

You put your profile on public for one day then you get notifications that your mum, your boyfriend’s old shagging partners, and someone you kissed when you were thirteen liked your photo from two years ago. STALKER ALERT!

4. Distractions

You tell yourself that you will finish your essay or work from home one day to find yourself sitting on YouTube watching cat videos until 4pm then realising you’ve done nothing productive. Hey, at least you can say you saw a cat play the piano, right?

5. Hate

There are way too many people that take to social media as a way of spreading false information or hate. The internet allows you to do this either anonymously or not, and this causes a lot of trouble. For example, someone makes a fake profile and messages your little sister about your dead father and all of a sudden you wish social media didn’t exist. The amount of bullying that goes on online is scary because you never know how much a certain person can take, hence a few suicide cases over online bullying.

Pros:

1. It is easier to keep in contact with people

Pretty much everyone has a mobile phone or laptop so you are likely to stay in contact with more people than you would without these devices e.g. people you meet on holiday, distant relatives etc.

2. It is good for businesses

Social networking apps and other websites contribute to the success of companies. It is easy to reach out to people around the world and get your voice or product heard as well as increase traffic to your website and therefore make more money (got you interested now?!)

3. Makes job hunting more efficient

Rather than the old fashioned way of going into a building and handing your CV in, there are endless amounts of recruitment websites that list jobs that are easy to apply to online.

4. You could make a name for yourself

If you start a blog and get a lot of views or tweet something good that goes viral you have a good chance of getting noticed by many people. This could benefit your social life and interaction levels as well as potentially get you some money e.g. YouTubers such as KSI who is probably bathing in £50 notes as I write this.

5. You can connect with anyone

Twitter and Tumblr are two examples of websites that allow users to post what they wish and have other users read the content. Where Facebook is most commonly used for closer relationships such as people you actually know in real life, Twitter and Tumblr are usually public and allow anyone to follow you and read your stuff. This means that you can end up chatting to someone who lives on the other side of the world who shares your interests.

So there are the main pros and cons of social networking in our eyes, but what’s your conclusion? Tweet us @DNSFeed @KirstyW95.