The name ‘social networking’ is ironical as it doesn’t bring people or families closer, instead creates big drifts in relationships with people who matter most to us. Even experts like Dr.Laura Schlessinger believe that cyber technology and social networking are having a negative effect on the family, as it has replaced the intimate interactions that used to occur within most families.
Mentioned below are a few family problems due to social networking, which I feel are common to most families.
- A normal healthy family conversation or gathering has now been replaced by text messaging sessions, thus leading to abbreviated words that lack true emotions.
- Family activity time is now replaced by endless hours of Internet surfing and chatting with people you may or may not even know. This results in hardly any kind of family bonding or intimate interaction with the ones closest to us.
- Family members get addicted to social networking sites that cause serious family problems, as they feel they would be left out if they do not keep up with the ever changing technology. They may tend to leave all their important work and prefer logging onto social networking sites many times a day, so that they can show their presence on the Internet and not miss out on any messages left by others.
- Family problems due to social networking arise when it becomes difficult for children to learn the proper social skills, which are vital to our day to day living in the ‘real’ world.
- Poor communication leads to relationship problems, which are one of the main family problems due to social networking, as you do not speak to each other any longer, instead prefer talking to people online, whom you may not even know.
- Social networking makes you lazy and obese, which is not good for your health, as you prefer spending your hours sitting in front of your computer or laptop, chatting or surfing the Internet.
- Family problems due to social networking arise when the children and adolescent are exposed to sexual and adult content, which they may not be yet ready for.
- As per a research conducted in United States, students who use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites have a low attention span, thus score low grades in school or colleges.
- Major family problems due to social networking arise between couples leading to problems in their marriage. Either of the spouse maybe staying awake all night, chatting with strangers, and it can lead to cheating and adultery.
- Staying up all night is unhealthy, and your day job may be affected or you may not be fresh to attend school or college and would spend your time sleeping all day, when you should be working.
- Family problems due to social networking can become grave if you get fired from your job. A recent research showed that over 72% employees in a company spent nearly more than an hour on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites during work.
- Family problems can arise if you or your family members are not careful while using social networking sites. Sites like Facebook, where even though you do have an option for privacy settings, but if a hacker can get your account password in a jiffy, how long would it take them to break Facebook security and get all your details out on the web. The information posted on such sites can put you at a risk for identity theft, thus refrain from giving your phone number, address, or the name of your school or college.
- Family problems due to social networking can damage your reputation, as anything you post online is public information that anyone can view, including your employers, boss, friends, relatives, or parents, which can harm you a great deal.
Though social networking sites have their plus points too if they are used sensibly and safely, but remember, excess of everything is bad, and you need to keep your familyintact, thus do not get too involved into social networking. Life is to live and with thousand of things waiting for you in the real world, avoid any kinds of family problems due to social networking and enjoy life by living it to the fullest.