Social networks

Are we all prisoners in their web?

Nowadays, more than one billion people use social networks. I do too, but with caution.

There are a lot of social networks and each one definitely has its own advantages: Facebook permits us to share a lot of things with friends, to talk with them, to keep in touch with people, YouTube is used to share and watch videos and twitter enables us to stay informed all the time when Linked-in is more professional and helps people to simplify their job search. Everybody can find what they are looking for on these sites. Therefore most social analysts recognize that it is important for young people to have accounts on these social networks in our current society.

But some persons have become victims of these social networks in different ways. Some of them need them to live and are addicted to them, and some psychologists point out that it can lead to damaging social enclosing. In fact, a lot of people who have an account spend more time dealing with that than they intended to. Others are victims of ridiculous pictures of them that they posted many years ago and that prevent them from finding a job, because the employers check their accounts. These social networks also make it easier for offenders to organize riots or for bullies to make fun of a scapegoat, which can lead people like Amanda Todd to commit suicide.

On the one hand, social networks provide many good things, but on the other hand, they can destroy lives. So people have to be careful when they use them. Obama said that he wanted everybody to be careful about what they post. People should listen to him. They should also try to spend less time on social networks. To my mind, these can be very useful if we follow all the advice given and if we remain cautious, but they should not take too much room in our lives.

Johan Sassi