Social Networks – An Addiction
Having put in the better part of the morning, and most mornings, staring at Facebook and updating my MySpace, I can admit that social networks are addicting and can dissipate hours and hours in a day. I can also remember back to when I was working a regular office job and most of the day was whiled away looking for who posted, checking it like it was the stock exchange. Often I get replies from acquaintances I haven’t spoken to in years or who I hardly know anymore, in addition to the current circle of friends who habitually monitor each other’s pages as if it was their [job|duty} to do so.
Psychiatrists go as far as saying that these days individuals amplify their own personalities through their online presences. In other words, Facebook and MySpace have turned into an expression of who we really are as people. I suppose this is real, as it is a place we control what people see, and have no problem letting people all across the globe see in order to obtain updates as to who we are and what we are doing. Nevertheless there are those who devote in excess of 30-40 hours on the internet a week on such sites, and they are addicts. People have looked to the internet to substitute other recreational avenues of their lives. Unhappily for large sections of today’s youth, this means a drop in outdoors pursuits, and for adults it can mean a fall in social relationships with their acquaintances and/or family.
They say opportunity makes the thief,’ but in this case, ‘social networks inspire the spy.’ The amount of material one can access on another individual makes it easy to spy on their every move. Yes it is that person, who posts pictures and endorses being tagged in others, as well as making public information, but others also posts on walls and those messages are [public|open} but may not be pre-approved by the individual before they go up. People quickly get addicted to following someone once they see someone else is writing on their wall, or that they have posted new pictures. Tabbed browsing, email notifications, and mobile applications, all cater to the social network dependent, making it [easier|more conceivable} for them to repeatedly be checking their profiles and others’ as well. Specialists recommend setting time rules, and generally practicing self discipline against repeatedly checking or signing up for email notifications, and not to install mobile apps for the social networks.
