Social Networking Is Affecting Our Reputation

Social Networking Is Affecting Our Reputation Social Media plays a big role in our everyday lives. Although social media is an easier way to socialize with other people in which you can connect with distant relatives or friends who dont often see, many have become so obsessed with checking up on their Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and etc. constantly. Social media has become a huge distraction in our daily lives. Social media is made to let people express themselves but many people use it as a way to be someone they are not or even to hurt others. Social media is harmful to our society in which allows for others to access your information. Many have become so addicted to social media that they dont have time to be physically active in which causes them to become unhealthy. Kids are spending so much time on social media and less time on studying. Overall, social media is hurting our country causing more bullying, depression, laziness and more are becoming unhealthy. Social networking is affecting our reputation. People dont realize that there isnt any privacy on social networking websites. Many arent aware what they post is out to the public, even though you deleted it, it can be retrieved. Nowadays jobs and colleges check to see if you have social media, inappropriate photos or comments can hurt your self image. The internet today is making everything easier to be viewed. Social media today lets individuals put out anything and even everything about a person. The rights to ones privacy are abused and are not persuaded to withhold ones personal information. In the article Is Your Online Activity Hurting Your Chances of Getting Into College? by Linsey Davis, basically shows us that before colleges accept you by your overall average or SAT score they will also be willing to look to see if you have any social media. Rachel is beginning to apply to college and her first choice is Bentley University, she began to worry after a college tour guide warn ed her about social media. It states He basically warned us that the admissions counselors will also look at our Facebook and any social media that we have to try and get a better picture of what kind of person we really are, Rachel said. Before colleges or even a job accepting you the first thing they will do is to see if you have any social media so they can see what type of person you really are. In the article Skarlis states He took a look all the way back to when Rachel was in middle school and first started using social media.. which basically means college admissions will be looking not only what have you been doing recently on social media but also the past back when you have first register on social media websites. Even though you have everything the college requires one little thing like having social media can affect you from getting in. In the article Privacy Invasion: Social media monitoring required to attend college or to be hired? by Ms. Smith shows us that social me dia is affecting the person chances in getting in colleges or even getting hired for a job. It states According to a Microsoft survey about the negative effects of unwise social media posts, 14% of people surveyed lost out on the college they wanted, 16% lost out on getting a job and 21% were fired from a job. Some employers and colleges may insist you friend them on social media or worse they may insist on your password to Twitter, to Facebook, Google and other social media sites so they can see what you post, your photos, what you say in DMs, and what you chat about. If you post negative comment, or photos on social media it can affect your chances into what college you want to go to, can get you fired from your job and can also hold you from being hired. This shows us that colleges and even jobs are being stricter on social media, even asking for their password to invade their privacy, what you post, and your photos that you upload and even to see what you and your friends talk a bout. Whatever you put on the Internet will follow you around forever. Social networks are giving bullies an opportunity to attack individuals online by invading their privacy. Social media makes it easier to continue bullying somebody that is being bullied on at school. By posting bad thing about the person and uploading pictures of the person. Social network creates an open access towards exposing individuals personal information. Suicide is an effect that can be the result of any form of bullying. Students come home from school expecting to find a safe place away from all the threats and dangers around them. However, victims of cyber bullying have no escape. They go home and turn on their computers or laptops and are immediately greeted with the harsh reality. Cyber bullies target their victims through electronic media such as cell-phones, websites, web-cams, chat rooms, and email. A victim is no longer able to escape from their bullies by simply leaving their presence and seeking safety and quietness in their own homes. In the article Bullied to dea th: Amanda Todd didnt do anything online that most others of her generation havent done was about a fifteen year old teenager, Amada Todd who killed herself after being bullied. It states Amanda Todd made a mistake by exposing her breast on the Internet, the stranger who pressured Todd to expose herself online and who circulated a topless photo of her wasnt a fellow teen from her high school but a 32 year old man living in Vancouver. Amanda was pressured to do something she probably didnt want to, she exposed herself to a stranger who she didnt know. In the article Cyber-bullying, social media blamed after Florida teen commits suicide Jessica Laney, 16, hung herself on Sunday after being bullied on the website Ask.fm. Her friends say cyber-bullying on the website Ask.fm is what pushed the troubled teen over the edge. Posts on Laneys page range from the innocent What class do you like the most? to the shockingly cruel Why are you so ugly? and Just kill yourself. Youre worthless. Peop le are using social media to bully others like Jessica Laney by letting her believe that she is worthless, ugly and she should go kill herself. Another story was a girl whose name is Hope Witsell. She was a 13-year-old who grew up in Florida. She forwarded a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked. Another girl borrowed the boys phone, found the image and forwarded it to other students. And so, the image found its way to a lot of other students in her school and in other schools. This then has resulted in teasing and bullying from her peers at Beth Shields Middle School, with insults such as whore and slut. When she returned to school, a counselor observed cuts on Hopes legs and had her sign a no-harm contract, in which Hope agreed to tell an adult if she felt inclined to hurt herself. The next day, Hope hanged herself in her bedroom. Many are being cyber bullied; children arent able to handle the situation, leading them to commit suicide. Some may disagree by saying that social media allows people to stay connected to family and friends, and have also been a great way for people to socialize and meet individuals. These sites are very useful, since students have the opportunity to interact with others by planning and working on school assignments. Many teachers are using social media sites to stay connected with their student once they have graduated and also to update their students on assignments, tests, grades and etc. A website elementary teachers use to interact with their student and coworkers is called Edmodo which allows students and teachers to create profiles, blogs, and gives students a place to go outside of class to contact teachers, keep current on assignments, projects, and quizzes. Social networking sites give people the chance of reconnecting with friends and family members that have not been in touch with for a long period of time, allowing them to strengthen and build good relationships. Also, social networking sites, offer free messaging, photo storage, and games among others. Social media makes it easy to connect with others. It is very helpful in long distance relationship, for example Facebook. The sites have certainly made it more convenient to get in touch with people with whom we have lost contact with. Several studies show that social networking sites have helped business, especially small businesses. They can be helpful in networking for employment purposes. In the article Benefits of using Social media for Business by Harsh Agrawal states Social media allows you to get personal with your customers and form a bond of trust with them. Replying to the concerns of your customers and by asking for their opinions, you can make your customers satisfied with what you have to offer and in this way you get more traffic, which promotes your business. The social media tools are free for use for everyone, and that is why by just working on your social media tools for a few minutes a day, you can get a lot of benefit from it and increase your sales and have better relations with your customers. Overall social media is helping businesses because social networking sites have the potential for advertising, marketing to targeted and segmented customers, and being able to reach out to users with big social networks for further business. Even though there are certain social benefits to these sites, by saying many need them to keep in touch with friends. However, the benefits do not outweigh the problems they cause. Social networking causes children and adults to be lazy and overweight, less productive at school and work. The first reason that social networking is bad for society is that it makes people lazy and overweight. Back in the days when people were bored, they would go outside to do something entertaining as in play in park, ride a bike, go jogging or hit the gym and exercise. Nowadays those who are bored go on their phones, go through others profile on Facebook or even write a status on Facebook stating Like my status for a rate, to be honest, truth is and etc. since they are bored. Many people just go on their phones and tweet about how bored they are or scroll through a friends new pictures and click the like button a few times. Doing these types of things dont help you in any way. In todays society obesit y rates are very high. In the article Causes of Childhood Obesity by Jeff Barnes states that Obesity in America is becoming a huge problem, especially in children. Statistics show that almost 60% of children in America are obese or overweight, and the number is still growing. Kids are become less active, instead of playing basketball, football or any other sports in the park, nowadays they prefer watching television or playing sports on video games, which causes to become unhealthy. Being able to shop online, socialize online, and play online interactive games without moving a muscle has created inactive lifestyles. Video games allow you to play your favorite sports without actually playing them physically. With more social networking sites being created, children are using them more. Once children get home one of the first things they do is log into their social media sites and begins to chat or text with friends. This is affecting their school work, because they arent spending eno ugh time doing homework or studying. Teens are become so addicted which causes them take up to 8 hours a day on social media. They are spending too much time on social media because they are chatting with their friends and searching for unnecessary people which prevent them from studying. This is lowering their grades. Students are spending time at night online and not sleeping enough. Without the sleep required by their body, they have a harder time paying attention in class or do not complete work. Another reason why social media is hurting our society is because a majority of employers search the Internet for information before hiring them. Inappropriate photos comments and what you like is hurting your reputation. When you delete information from Facebook, it does not disappear. Also social media decreases in face-to-face communication. In the article Social networking hurts the communication skills of college students by Megan Puglisi it states Students have become reticent and intimidated in the classroom to speak directly with me. Rather, they feel more comfortable sending me an e-mail from behind a computer screen, which is impersonal and does not contain context at all, Crowley said. Kids are becoming more comfortable sending emails to teachers if they have any questions regarding assignments or grades, rather than speaking face to face. In the article it states Students prefer to participate in brief e-mail exchanges when they should be pursuing real relationships. Avoiding personal interactions harms the competency of young professionals (Its difficult for students) to speak to respected professionals during interviews because they lack the necessary nonverbal behaviors, like eye contact. Feeling comfortable behind computer screen isnt good for you because you will have trouble communicating to others face to face, it will be hard for you to speak to others if youre constantly typing and not speaking verbally. People rather text someone or meet them online rather than communicate in person. We are losing the ability to communicate face to face. For these reasons, social networking is bad for society. Overall, social media is hurting our country in various ways causing more cyber bullying, lack of face to face communication, obesity, lack of privacy and etc. Although social media is an easier way to communicate with long distant friends or family members many have become addicted causing them to go on their profiles daily for maybe 8 hours and more. People are feeling more comfortable chatting behind the screen rather than talking to a person face to face which isnt good when comes to interviews. People arent aware that what they post online can no longer be removed and will stay with you forever. Colleges and jobs are looking at your social media websites to get a better view of who you really are, this may stop you from getting the college you want to. Think twice before uploading a photo, writing a post or liking something on social media because you never know who will be the one to view your profile. 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