The Positive Benefits and Negative Drawbacks of the Dawn of the Facebo Assignment

The Positive Benefits and Negative Drawbacks of the Dawn of the Facebook and Twitter Era - Assignment Example As such, this brief analysis will make a short inventory of but a few of the most relevant positive and negative attributes that these forms of social networking engender. There has doubtless been an overall decrease in actual inter-personal networking skills as people are more and more prone to spending massive amounts of time online; interfacing with virtual friends, playing mindless and time wasting games, reading trivial newsfeeds that detail in exhaustive form the mundane daily activities of multiple friends etc. In this way, rather than spending the evening going for a walk, eating at a cafà ©, or engaging in some form of physical activity, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become the new and enhanced version of what the TV was to the generation before ours. Furthermore, the introduction of advanced mobile phone technology has greatly enhanced the ability of individuals to use these forms of social media sites at all times and in all places. Tangentially, sites such as Facebook and Twitter are closing individuals to many real-world experiences they might otherwise have if they would simply shut down the computer and step outside to interact with real people in the real world. One cannot count the number of people during lunch, while on the bus, in a metro, on vacation etc that have their eyes downcast on their mobile device while the entire world seems to pass them by. This, therefore, comes full circle from a mere time wasting issue to one of sheer and total addiction. There exist support groups and books as well as counsellors that work to help individuals with varying degrees of social networking addiction, dependence, and separation anxiety. The fact that groups that support people in letting go of their addiction in the same ways that AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) does are but part and parcel of the problem that is social networking.  Ã‚