Running Head: Social Networking

Community Problem Report: Social Networking

Jae Seok Eo
The University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract
Social Networking has become a necessity to many people in the world. Nowadays,
about half of the people in the world uses internet to use social networking. In social
networking, you can develop your profile, communicate with friends or strangers, and share
music, movies, photos, and other entertainments. People are capable of using social
networking everywhere in a phone or in a laptop. People discuss multi-perspectives that can

Running Head: Social Networking

be investigated, whether social networking is beneficial for people or is detrimental for

people. Many opponents of the issue state that social networking will entail a plethoric of
problems: addiction, cyber-bullying, alienation from others, and false or deleterious
information etc. Despite many opinions that social networking causes detrimental problems
to people, there is also perspective that it is helpful in making close global relationship by
online communication, and in getting educational information quickly. To get handle of the
issue, people learn how to use social networking appropriately. People can get help from
plenty of organizations that are trying to help people handle with problems related to social
networking.

Keywords: Social Networking, Addiction, Cyber-bullying, online communication

Introduction
According to the Pew Internet Projects research related to social networking, as of
January 2014, 74% of online adults use social networking sites. This statistic is a shocking
rise from February 2005, when only 8% of online adults used social networking sites. The
major reason that more people are continually using social networking sites is because
growing ubiquity of cell phones, especially smart phones. Use of smart phones by majority of

Running Head: Social Networking

people has made social networking so easy to access. According to Pew Internet Spring
Tracking Survey in 2012, 40% of cell phone users used social networking sites on their
phone. Indeed, rapid development of technology allowed use of social networking sites to be
very reasonable. However, many people are asking questions: do social networking sites
isolate people from their relationships? Or actually make people to be more connected by
online communication? Majority of people say that it is clear that without proper knowledge
of how social networking sites really impact a person either in beneficial or detrimental ways
and how to use it appropriately, it will only lead one into the mire, such as addiction. This
report will cover beneficial impact of social networking, detrimental impact of social
networking, and aids or ways to use social networking properly.
Beneficial Impact on Education
Nowadays, many students possess smart phone or laptop for educational purposes.
They tend to use social networking sites with their phone or laptop. Proponents of the social
networking state students can discuss certain educational topic, can get many educational
information and supporting materials very quickly, and work on projects together. Many
educated people even state that these activities of students are very effective for educational
purposes. According to the article The Use of Social Networking to Improve the Quality of
Interprofessional Education written by Amy Pittenger, using an online social networking
platform is feasible and effective for interprofessional education. In the article, she introduces
a design of an experiment having 3 groups in different learning environments to have group
discussions in social networking sites and see how their education skills had changed after
few weeks. . Minimally structured group, which provided of only general goals and what
final project should address, only one person posted on website and there were almost no
activities in the website. In facilitated group, provided occasional resources but did not direct
the experience, interactions among group members were common and regularly participated

Running Head: Social Networking

in activities. For highly structured group, which members facilitated all discussion topics,
controlled the flow of interactions, and directed final project process, members tended to post
on website and tried to get to know each other, but they stopped posting and did not
participated in activities after few weeks. In the experiment, the members in facilitated group
and highly structured group indicated that the experience positively impacted their
knowledge in their profession (Pittenger, 2013, n.p). As shown in the article, proponents of
the social networking consider social networking sites to be very beneficial for educational
purposes.
Beneficial Impact on Relationships and Daily Life

Running Head: Social Networking

Due to developed technology, ones relationship with others became very close by
internet. Social media enabled people from all over the world to interact, getting to know
what friends on opposite side of the globe are doing. The proponents of the social networking
state that online networking promotes the communication between friends and families,
making them to be closer in relationship. Moreover, according to study of University of
California San Diego (UCSD), it shows that using social media spreads happiness and may
improve mental health and well-being (Whiteman, 2014, n.p). Social networking also made
peoples daily lives very convenient by getting information, getting job opportunities, and
shopping online etc. In 2008 news article in The New York Times, a 32year-old man, who had
45days to find new job before his company eliminated his division, won 4 job interviews just
by updating job status in his social networking site. The article also states that social
networking lets you to not worry about being shy calling or e-mailing people you neglected,
letting you renew the connection when you add contact (Tribble, 2008, n.p).
Detrimental Impacts of Social Networking
Opponents of social networking argue that more detrimental impacts exist than
beneficial impacts. They argue that face-to-face communication is more helpful for
relationships and social networking prevents this communication. They also strongly say that
social networking may spread false or deleterious information for people. Many of the
opponents are especially worried about
adverse effects on children and
adolescents. In scholarly article Adverse
Effects of Online Social Networking on
Children and Adolescents, Srivastava and
Bhardwaj mainly argue that online social
networking gives more negative impacts

Running Head: Social Networking

socially and psychologically than positive ones, especially to children and adolescents One of
the examples they show in the article is narcissistic traits of children and adolescents
increasing from self-presenting in social networking sites, such as, Facebook. They also state
that cyber bullying and addiction potential in online social networking is a serious issue
(Srivastava and Bhardwaj, 2014, P80~92). Opponents of the issue of social networking
strongly raise the awareness of addiction to social networking. This is because of detrimental
after effects on people mentally,
emotionally, or psychologically.
According to the scholarly article
Craving Facebook? Behavioral
Addiction to Online Social
Networking and Its Association with
Emotion Regulation Deficits, Online Social Networking (OSN) had observed that people
addicted to social networking tend to have difficulties with emotion regulation, such as,
unpleasant emotional states, feeling of loneliness, sadness, and anxiety. The article showed
the study designed for undergraduate student in Northeastern University, a survey related to
use of internet and social networking. Here, almost 99.2% had regular access to interne at
home and 93.3% had regular access to internet through smart phones. Most importantly,
students spent time average of more than 60 minutes on Facebook daily and most of these
students had difficulties in emotion regulation (Hormes, 2014, P2079~2080). These data in
the article shows how students have dependence on using internet and social networking.
Should Social Networking be Banned or Not Banned?
Understanding both benefits and risks of using social networking sites, people are
still fighting over the controversial issue of using social networking. Some of the people are
even arguing over should social networking be banned or not. People who are in stance of

Running Head: Social Networking

banning social networking web sites worries about numerous risks: exposure to children,
sexual solicitation, pornography, and cyber bullying. In the chapter, My Space and Other
Social Networking Web Sites Should Be Banned of the book, Should Social Networking
Web Sites Be Banned, Fitzpatrick brings up the issue of danger of online bullying and
exposure to child predators. Most importantly he says that there is no enforcement for the
rules of age limits on many web sites. He also mentions that there are no silver bullet solution
and no law enforcement from Congress and state legislatures to online predators (Fitzpatrick,
2008, P10~15). On the other hand, in the chapter My Space and Other Social Networking
Web Sites Should Not Be Banned, Stupak takes a stance of opposing to banning of social
networking websites. Stupak specifically states that The Deleting Online Predators Act of
2006 (DOPA), which would ban minors from accessing social networking web sites in
schools, libraries or other federally funded institution, does not address the problem of online
child exploitation. He thinks that children are most vulnerable online when they access social
networking web sites without supervision of adults (Stupak, 2008, P16~21).
As seen in both stance of issue of banning social networking, social networking has
some detrimental effects to people, but we cannot disregard the many benefits of using it. As
many people say, it is significant to have proper knowledge of how social networking sites
really impact a person either in beneficial or detrimental ways and have proper knowledge of
how to use it appropriately. Even though, silver bullet solution does not exist for the issue,
people can have guidelines or rules of using social networking in order to minimize the risks
and maximize the benefits of using it. In the scholarly article, Benefits and Pitfalls: Simple
Guidelines for the Use of Social Networking Tools in K-12 Education, Dr. Stephanie
Huffman emphasized the role of adults or supervisors to allow students to use social
networking appropriately. Aiming at adults and educational leaders, intended audience, he
says that adults need to set guidelines and play a huge role for children and students,

Running Head: Social Networking

regarding the issue of social networking. One of the examples of guidelines that Dr. Huffman
suggests is teachers posting only items related to topic and not posting obscene materials
during lesson in school, using social networking tools (Huffman, 2013, P154~160).
Conclusion
Because social networking has already become a necessity to many people in the
world and technology is keep rapidly developing, using internet and social networking on a
daily basis for people is probably inevitable. However, it is important to understand both
stance of proponents and opponents of using social networking. In order to use the social
networking appropriately, we must set guidelines of using social networking. Then, we can
maximize benefits of social networking, such as, getting information quickly or having
worldwide connections, and we can minimize risks, such as, being addicted to social
networking or danger of cyber-bullying.

Running Head: Social Networking

References
Fitzpatrick. Michael G (2008). My Space and Other Social Networking Web Sites Should Be
Banned. In E. Roman (Ed), Should Social Networking Web Sites Be Banned? (pp.
10-15). Michigan, MI: Christine Nasso
Hormes. Julia M & Kearns. Brianna & Timko. C. Alix (2014). Craving Facebook?
Behavioral Addiction to Online Social Networking and Its Association with Emotion
Regulation Deficits Addiction, 109, 2079-2088
Huffman. Stephaine (2013). Benefits and Pitfalls: Simple Guidelines for the Use of Social
Networking Tools in K-12 Education Education, Vol.134(2), 154-160
Pittenger. Amy, (2013). The Use of Social Networking to Improve the Quality of
Interprofessional Education American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 77(8),
Article 174
Srivastava.C, Bhardwaj. A,(2014). Adverse Effects of Online Social Networking on
Children and Adolescents Journal of Indian Association for Child & Adolescent
Mental Health, 10(2). 80-92
Stupak. Bart (2008). My Space and Other Social Networking Web Sites Should Not Be
Banned. In E. Roman (Ed), Should Social Networking Web Sites Be Banned? (pp 16-

Running Head: Social Networking

10

21). Michigan, MI: Christine Nasso

Tribble. S. J. (2008, August 13). The Social Network as a Career Safety Net. The New York
Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/technology/personaltech/14basics.html
Whiteman,H.(2014, April 16). Social Media: How Does It Really Affect Our Mental Health
And Well Being Medical News Today, March 8, 2015,
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275361.php