By Jenny Prokop, Assistant Opinions Editor
At approximately 8:45 a.m., Joe Smith dragged himself out of bed and checked his phone for any missed text messages.
At 9:25 a.m., Smith then checked his Facebook profile on his mobile phone and left comments on some of his friends’ profile “Walls” while sitting in class.
Smith then headed out to the library to work on a history paper at 10:00 a.m., but before he even opened up a blank document to type on, Smith had spent a good 45 minutes browsing through Facebook again.
By noon, Smith had sent out at least 10 text messages on his phone and had already spent a cumulative hour-and-a-half on Facebook.
But, this was just the beginning of Smith’s day.
Although it might sound excessive, Smith’s typical day could have fit the description of any other college student’s typical day as social networking Web sites like Facebook, as well as text messaging, have started to play a bigger role in young adult life.
In fact, according to The Pew Internet & American Life Project, a nonpartisan “fact tank” providing information on American attitudes, lifestyle and views, “55 percent of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55 percent used social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook” with females accounting for 58 percent of profiles created and that they “are more likely to use these sites.”
The site defines “social networking” as individuals creating profiles for themselves to “build a personal network that connects him or her to other users.”
The advent of the Internet has certainly given society a better tool to bring the world to a person’s fingertips to establish these networks. With just a couple strokes of the keyboard, a person could be keeping up with a friend from high school on Facebook, at the same time that they are text messaging another friend directions on how to get to a party later on that night.
The Lewis perspective
Convenience is certainly an advantage that comes with these social networking Web sites, but for Dr. Thomas Brignall, assistant professor of sociology, this factor goes beyond the simple convenience of communicating with people easily, but to a much deeper problem.
“What I don’t understand is when I watch students interact for 15 to 20 minutes with somebody and that person they’re text messaging is [close by], To me, that’s not convenience; that’s convenience of avoidance,” said Brignall.
Brignall also mentioned that social networking Web sites become a hindrance, specifically when it becomes a “go-to” method to communicate.
“Research is showing that more and more people are using it as their primary source of interaction. It’s their preferred source of interaction,” said Brignall.
The study done by The Pew Internet & American Life Project echoes Brignall’s statement, specifically teens.
The organization broke down their findings, saying that “46 percent of teens visit social networking Web sites daily or more often; 26 percent visit once a day, 22 percent visit several times a day.”
To break it down even further, The Flyer informally polled a random selection of 81 anonymous students about their take on social networking.
Text messaging and Facebook were at the top of primary choices for social networking methods (40 percent and 33 percent respectively) for Lewis students, and 48 percent of those polled spent zero to ten hours per week on the sites, with even 16 percent admitting to spending up to 20 hours or more per week.
A possible illness?
Considering these findings, Amanda MacMillan of CNN reported in Oct. 2009 that Internet addiction, such as those who spend copious amounts of time on social networking Web sites, has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression in teenagers.
The study, conducted at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan over two years found that Internet addiction is much more prevalent in boys, despite females accounting for more profiles online than males as The Pew Internet Project reports.
MacMillan also reported that symptoms of Internet addiction can include, “spending a lot of time on the Internet…, inability to cut back on usage,” and that those dealing with this addiction can show withdrawal signs of “anxiety, boredom and irritability.”
However, it should be noted that this addiction hasn’t been entered into the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” according to MacMillan.
Despite the possible withdrawal symptoms, Brignall believes otherwise.
“I’m not quite ready to say that the Internet is an addiction and the reason being is that there is no physical withdrawal. It’s not like heroine or alcohol where you physically get sick if you develop a habit,” said Brignall. “And I’m not sure it’s a completely mental addiction because I don’t think it’s the object itself is what addicted them [but] their need for a style of interaction because they’re craving interaction. So if there were some other vehicle, they would do that themselves.”
Facebook as a crutch
But regardless of a possibility of developing an “addiction,”
what exactly is the appeal?
Obviously, convenience plays a big factor, but how does it fit into the bigger picture?
Nationwide, those surveyed in The Pew Internet Project said that the main reason why they use these social networking Web sites is to “stay in touch with friends [they] see a lot” (91 percent) and to also “stay in touch with friends [they] rarely see in person” (82 percent).
On the Lewis level, a majority of 57 percent preferred the latter saying that they used Web sites like Facebook “to keep in touch with old friends.”
But for Brignall, that very reason plays into how people develop their real world social skills.
Brignall explained that people use these sites to keep in touch with old friends, but as a crutch to avoid the unfamiliar and to use it as an escape from what’s going on in the real world.
“I think why this phenomenon has caught hold partially is because of the chaos that’s going on in the world,” said Brignall. “I think that people are going to these [outlets] because they are struggling with what’s going on. It’s a refuge, and it’s also an easy way to talk to people because if you don’t like somebody, you could ignore him. If you don’t like somebody, you could say something and no one’s going to know.”
“It’s great that you want to be friends with your friends, and I don’t want that to stop, but in life every 10 to 15 years, you’ll have to make new friends. You have to keep up with the ones that you have in the here and now. You can’t live in the past, and I think that’s what fear does. People tend to live in the past sometimes,” said Brignall.
A crippling effect on social skills
Besides hindering people from pursuing new friends while they try to maintain their older friendships, another way these social networking Web sites can have an effect on an individual is their overall methods of making or maintaining friends in the first place.
With these sites, and using one’s mobile phone to interact with others instead of face to face interaction, Sophie Elmhirst of New Statesman questions how it will affect an individual’s “empathy and emotional intelligence.”
Writing comments on a friend’s Facebook profile is much different than speaking to them in person, and the overall way in which people interact online isn’t the same as in the real world.
In fact, with the surge in use of these social networking Web sites, the question of how it will affect a user’s real world social and interpersonal skills comes into play. Does the way young adults communicate online help them in anyway as far as developing their social skills?
“I think if you do positive things online and then those skills are transferred, then yes,” explained Brignall.
Though interacting online can serve as “practice” for users to test their real world social skills, Brignall also believes there’s a difference in interaction between the online and the real world.
“I am in real disbelief that that can happen, because it’s one thing to type something in the comfort of your own room, [but] it’s another thing to get up in front of people,” said
Brignall. “Practice in one aspect doesn’t always, even if they can, transfer.”
But for Dr. Deirdre
MacCarvill, a Dublin psychologist, she believes these sites can be beneficial and act as a “refuge” in terms of people “testing out their social skills.”
But Brignall counters that belief and bolsters his position by stressing the importance of interpersonal skill.
“The simplicity of reading people’s faces [and the nonverbal cues] – you need those everyday actions just as if you’re practicing a musical instrument or a sport. Interaction is a social skill that has to be practiced, that’s why you’re awkward when you’re young,” said Brignall.
Brignall also stressed that many people function fine when they use these sites. But for people who take it to an extreme, there are many other factors they’re avoiding besides escaping the real world and the awkwardness they may feel when they interact face-to-face.
“There’s some form of alienation going on, and these are just for the dysfunctional people,” he said.
In fact, the majority of Lewis students surveyed said face -to-face interaction is their preferred method of socializing, with 75 percent saying they are “more comfortable speaking in person.”
And though some may
believe that these social networking Web sites are consuming too much time in a college student’s life, 52 percent of Lewis students surveyed believe these Web sites “don’t interfere” with their everyday life at all.
The consensus seems to be that social networking sites aren’t serious ways of meeting people or communicating.
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