When I try to make a point about social networking I post it on my blog and send it out into the infinite abyss that is the internet. Who even reads this blog, anyway? However, when the New York Times wants to make a point about social networking, they print it in the Sunday paper on the cover of the Sunday Styles (my fave section) making sure the whole world has a chance to read what they have to say. And, what is it that they have to say about social networks? Exactly what I've been saying all along...
Long gone are the days when kids had conversations face to face. Now if your looking to have a convo with a tween or teen it's almost strictly text, email, bbm, facebook, twitter, formspring, myspace (do people even use myspace anymore?) and any other form of communication that does not involve social skills. Due to this lack of face to face interactions children are missing social cues when they are forced to have real life convos with other children and adults.
The worry of the social world used to be sexting and cyber bullying. Not that sexting or cyber bullying have diminished, however, we now also have to be concerned about children's dependency on social network sites and technological gadgets to communicate.
Wrap your head around this: According to the New York Times, "Children between the ages of 8-18 spend an average of 7 1/2 hours per day using some sort of electronic device from smartphones to MP3 players to computers." So, when a child wants to tell his friend a secret, he now writes it in a Facebook message. When he wants to share a funny story, he writes it on his buddy's Facebook wall. So glad children still want to share things with each other but the technological way of going about sharing is certainly beginning to show consequences.
Apparently, there are parents who think that social networking sites are a dream come true for their socially awkward child. A "shy" child can now express themselves via the internet or text and make friends that they would never have made. Hello? This is not a good thing. These are the kids who end up sexting naked pictures of themselves in a hopes of becoming popular and use Facebook as a platform to make connections with "friends" who most likely are just making fun of them behind their back or should I say Facebook page?
Moral of the story, Facebook will not make you cool. If you miss out on social cues early on in life you are doomed to be an awkward human the rest of your life. How do I know this? I don't, but the Times does and they are pretty official. I'd take their word for it if I were you.
