Having wasted the better part of the morning, and most mornings, gazing on Facebook and updating my MySpace, I can accept that social networks are habit-forming and can waste hours and hours in a day. I can also remember back to when I was going to a normal office job and a large part of the day was spent looking for who updated, checking it like it was the stock exchange. Every now and then I get replies from acquaintances I haven’t been in touch with in years or who I hardly remember, in addition to the regular circle of contacts who regularly check each other’s pages as if it was their [job|duty} to do so.

Psychiatrists go as far as declaring that these days individuals extend their own identities through their Internet profiles. To put it differently, Facebook and MySpace have turned into a sense of who we actually are as people. I venture this is true, as it is a situation we control what people see, and have no problem letting people all around the globe watch in order to secure updates as to who we are and what we are doing. However there are those who spend over 30-40 hours on the internet a week on such sites, and they are dependent. People have looked to the internet to substitute other recreational sources of their lives. Unhappily for large sections of today’s youth, this means a drop in outdoors activity, and for grown-ups it can imply a fall in social interaction with their acquaintances and/or family.

  They say opportunity makes the criminal,’ but in this situation, ‘social networks inspire the spy.’ The quantity of information one can access on another individual makes it easy to follow their every move. Yes it is that person, who puts up photos and approves being tagged in others, as well as making public personal details, but everyone also posts on walls and those announcements are [public|open} but may not be pre-approved by the individual before they go live. People quickly get addicted to following someone once they find someone else is posting on their wall, or that they have posted new pictures. Tabbed browsing, email alerts, and mobile applications, all cater to the social network addict, making it [easier|more conceivable} for them to constantly be looking at their profiles and others’ as well. Experts recommend setting time rules, and basically practicing self discipline against repeatedly checking or receiving email notifications, and not to install mobile apps for the social networks.

Bookmark to: