Social Media – Helpful or Harmful?
Pamela Cole

Dr. Katrina Zaleski

English 090

09/05/2012

With the advancement of technology and the rise of social media, would you consider it helpful or harmful in today’s society? Everywhere you go it’s inevitable to see someone either texting, tweeting, or on Facebook. No matter how you feel about it, social networking seems to be the source of communication today. Social networking is very helpful in many ways such as communicating, searching for employment, and employment verification. We are able to communicate and search for people whom we have lost contact with through Facebook, texting and instant messaging. Individuals can even search for employment, post and send resumes without ever stepping into a Human Resource department. The negative side of social media is that you actually don’t know if you’re in contact with the correct person when you are communicating online. Through tweeting, burglars and robbers can predict when they can most likely burglarize your home when you are not there. Social dating sites like Christian Mingle and Black People Meet are sites for meeting people of the same beliefs and character as you. Anyone can join these sites but how can you verify this information without ever meeting them? What about the old time way of courtship and meeting people? Another social networking website that seems to be harmful is Facebook. With Facebook you are able befriend people whom you have never met. It also seems to be the place where people air out their dirty laundry. It’s a site where you can vent about problems without even going to the source. Bullies use this site for cyber bullying. They humiliate and threaten people whom they seem to dislike for no apparent reason. The Bureau of Justice statistics for 2012 shows, that 52% of students are being cyber- bullied. There is also approximately 33% of teens who has experienced cyber bullying online and another 25% through their cell phones or internet. This has become an epidemic. Finally, there is texting. This has gotten out of control. Everywhere you look you find people texting, on jobs, in churches, on the bus and even sitting at the dinner table. Statistic shows that this method of social networks has caused numerous deaths from people texting while driving. There is approximately 1,600,000 accidents per year with over 330,000 injuries from texting and driving. The Institute of Highway Safety Fatality denote there are 11 teens deaths everyday due too texting. Children now are so good at texting that the can perform this task without even looking at the keys on the telephone. I know that even within my home the children bring their phones to the table and try to text while we are having a family dinner. I have to remind them that we are having dinner and that their friends can wait until we are done. How annoying is this? Now, you make the decision, is it helpful or harmful?