Are Social Networking Sites Helpful or Harmful to Society?

                Social networking sites are both helpful and harmful to society. It all depends on how they're used. They are helpful in how they can connect people and keep people updated on what is going on in their friend’s lives. For example, some of the more recent revolutions in oppressed countries were made possible through social networking. However, they can be harmful when they replace people’s actual social lives. They’re also wonderfully distracting. For example, I procrastinated on writing this for about ten minutes by going on facebook. Social networking sites also create endless opportunities for people to compromise their reputations. Future employers can base hiring decisions on some risqué pictures a person posted without a second thought. Social networking sites also create a whole new forum for bullying and stalking. It can give bullies a way to invade all aspects of a person’s life. Like most things in life, social networking sites have both positive and negative impacts on society.

Does Technology Improve or Harm Our Communication Skills?

Ironically, I think technology harms our communication skills. Because technology makes communicating so fast and easy through texts, emails, etc, I think it downplays the importance of meaningful face to face contact. It can also lead to abbreviated conversations, which is great for sending straightforward messages, but not so good when you want to carry on meaningful conversations. Along with this, it’s harder to convey the tone of what you want to say without hearing voice inflection and seeing body language. This can lead to damaging miscommunication. Technology also puts a barrier between the people communicating. This can possibly lead people to say things they wouldn’t normally say to someone’s face. In all, I don’t think using the medium of technology is a bad way to communicate. However, it’s bad when people become too dependent on it and constantly use technology as an easy way out of a necessary face to face conversation. To sum up my point, no one should get dumped by a text.