Social Network and its Impact in America

About a decade ago, if I had told my friend that I got poked by someone, chances are he would have interpreted that statement entirely different than in the present. To individuals today, poking is simply an insignificant yet entertaining online feature of a social networking site. It is discrepancies like this that epitomize the rise of the social networking epidemic. On February 4th of 2004, a college student named Mark Zuckerberg debuted his simple idea of a website called Facebook. Zuckerberg’s original intention was to communicate with his friends at his school of Harvard University. Within the next year, students from other Ivy League schools joined the webpage, and by 2006, Facebook expanded to the general public (Jones). Flash forward to the present. In October 2012, Facebook reached the status of having one billion users and it has been growing ever since (Smith). Such a large fraction of the world’s population suggests that social networking has officially become a way of life. Consequently, these websites have considerably affected our nature of communication. Families and friends can now keep updated easily with what is going on in each other’s lives in times where they are separated. Furthermore, social networks have positively altered means of education, business, and even politics. Nevertheless, as these websites continue to grow, a myriad of complications have evolved. Some common negative ramifications on individuals include a lack of a social life, the destruction of relationships, procrastination in doing schoolwork, and most of all, the weakening of physical, mental, and emotional health – especially among teens. However, it doesn’t stop there. In recent days, social networking sites such as Face...

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...on physical, mental, and social health. Teens are suffering a lack of a social life and much procrastination with their schoolwork, couples are suffering the destruction of their relationships, and many children are unfortunately getting involved in cyberbullying. Nevertheless, whether one recognizes the positive or negative consequences that social networks have had on the nation, it can likely be agreed upon that the country would be very different (and probably less fascinating) if these online connections weren’t present. America’s increasing use of social networking has not only built up our nation’s personal identity, it is changing it as well. Considering that social networks have only been around for the past decade or so, it is quite intriguing to think about what further developments will occur in the culture of America as that transformation continues.