Social Networks – An Addiction
Having put in most of the morning, and most mornings, gazing on Facebook and updating my MySpace, I can admit that social networks are addicting and can waste hours and hours in a day. I can also remember back to when I was going to a regular office job and most of the day was spent looking for who updated, looking it up like it was the stock exchange. Every now and then I get responses from acquaintances I haven’t spoken to in years or who I hardly remember, in addition to the current group of friends who regularly check each other’s profiles as if it was their [job|duty} to do so.
Psychiatrists go as far as saying that these days people extend their own identities through their online presences. In other words, Facebook and MySpace have turned into a sense of who we actually are as individuals. I guess this is real, as it is a place we control what others see, and have no trouble letting people all around the world see in order to secure updates as to who we are and what we are doing. Nevertheless there are those who devote over 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 areas of their lives. Unhappily for many of today’s youth, this means a drop in outdoors activity, and for grown-ups it can imply a drop in social relationships with their friends and/or family.
They say the chance creates the thief,’ but in this situation, ‘social networks inspire the spy.’ The amount of material one can access on another individual makes it simple to follow their every action. Yes it is that person, who puts up photos and endorses being tagged in others, as well as posting information, but others also posts on walls and those announcements are [public|open} but may not be pre-approved by the member before they go live. We easily get addicted to stalking someone once they see someone else is writing on their wall, or that they have put up new images. Tabbed browsing, email alerts, and mobile applications, all cater to the social network dependent, making it [easier|more conceivable} for them to constantly be looking at their profiles and others’ as well. Specialists advise laying down time rules, and generally exercising self discipline against constantly checking or receiving email notifications, and not to install mobile apps for the social networks.