What the Experts Say

Steve Chazin, former Apple marketing director and current chief marketing officer at DimDim.com, has experienced the feeling of isolation one gets after having become so dependent on Internet use, recalling, “I remember one day a few years ago when our office phones and Internet stopped working. No e-mail, no voicemail, no Facebook, no Skype, and no Twitter, [all examples of social networking sites]. People came out of their offices and talked. I enjoyed that day."

Rob Bedi, a registered psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Victoria, says that removing oneself from social networking sites after having experienced addiction-like urges to constantly be using the sites and receive notifications from them cannot be quit cold turkey. He explains, “while a cocaine addict can put down his drug and an alcoholic his drink, you can’t preach abstinence to a student society that functions on Internet usage.”

Paul Levinson, Professor and Chair of Media Studies at Fordham University, says, “What I think something like the Facebook does is that it gives everyone a little dossier, and it does profoundly change the rules of engagement when they do meet. It obsolesces small talk."

N’Gai Croal, a Newsweek technology columnist, writes that, once one becomes a user, it is very difficult to disengage oneself from sites like Facebook and Myspace, because “[they are] an insidious blend of peer pressure and crowd psychology – watching all your ‘friends’ on the site post every little detail of their lives, you can’t help but feel compelled to join in."

Ernest Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says that the fact that MySpace had to ban and remove so many convicted sex offenders from the site in recent months “clearly reinforces the fact that there are a significant number of people who seek access to kids online."

Isaac Gilman of Pacific University allows that, while there is nothing inherently immoral about using social networking sites, “publicly sharing unprofessional content…or excessive personal information may be compromising for professionals [currently and in the future]."

Argument Development

Argument 2

Social networking sites are harmful to young people because they produce such an immense loss of privacy. The main premise of these sites is to create a public profile in which anyone, from close friends to complete strangers, can view your interests, hobbies, hometown, etc. The ability of just about anyone to create such an open and public persona has legitimized scrutinizing mere acquaintances, classmates, friends, teachers, and coworkers by looking at their profiles. Many argue that privacy tools exist to heighten Internet security, yet many users either are not aware of their privacy options or simply do not know how to use them properly, if at all.

I will develop this argument by delving into the different features of the sites that jeopardize users' privacy. For example, the "News Feed" is a feature of Facebook that allows users to observe any changes their friends make to their profiles, comments they post on each others' sites, or new photographs of themselves and events they attend that they have uploaded. Such features are a threat to the privacy of any user of social networking sites.

Argument 3

The fact that social networking sites contribute to today’s rapidly growing Internet addiction and procrastination problem is another reason that the sites are damaging to today’s teenagers. Speaking from personal experience, Facebook has been the root of much of my daily procrastination, whether I am attempting to complete homework assignments or other equally otherwise-productive tasks. Indeed, the easiest way to be social and lazy at the same time is to spend hours on end on these social networking sites. In short, they provide another medium for wasting time that could otherwise be used productively.

Some might say that procrastination is something that can be cured with determination, yet the habitual use of these sites and the ease with which one can interact and communicate with their friends and family makes it very difficult to completely change one's routine. The sites create an almost obsessive attitude toward online communication and replace productive activity with overuse of the sites.

Argument 4

It would be difficult in today’s world to be unaware of the amount of sex offenders and “cyberstalkers” running rampant on social networking sites, attempting to abuse the services they provide in order to connect with and harm young people. To develop this subtopic, I will research statistics of the sexual predator/offender presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace and look for past and recent cases.

It is difficult to fathom any argument against this case, but I believe that the data I will find in the course of my research will be substantial enough to refute claims that the existence of sex offenders on social networking sites is not a pressing issue.

Argument 5

Perhaps one of the most long-lasting effects of social networking sites that makes them so harmful to today’s teenagers is the consequences they hold for the future in terms of a career. Facebook, MySpace, and other sites affect the labor market, with recruiters now adding young applicants’ profiles to their evaluations of the potential employees and observing the public, inappropriate content that is easily accessed on their pages.

Those against this argument offer that public profiles can easily be deleted. However, quite the contrary is true. It has become increasingly difficult to completely delete one's information from the Internet, with photographs, posts, and personal information permanently kept on the websites without any manner of deletion available. This is detrimental to both prospective employees and those concerned about their privacy.