Internet - the destroyer of social life?

Internet – the destroyer of social life?

Since its introduction to the public in the ‘90s, the Internet has been improved a lot. It is a useful tool to get around in life, but there are some who literally cannot live without it. These people spend most of their lives surfing on the Internet, diving deep into social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. Generally these sites are not harmful as long as an individual does not get addicted to them. The sad situation is that there are addicts who get sucked into this “virtual reality”. In this way, the Internet can alter someone’s social behaviour, ruining his or her social connections or status.

Socializing has been an elemental part of human life since our early history. Humans are not evolved to be solitary; they need to be part of a community in order to live a happy and healthy life. This was not a problem until the 20^th century. With the arrival of the digital age, and the Internet a lot has changed. First the e-mail put an end to traditional posting and after a while, the arrival of social media sites put and end to the e-mail. Technological advancement is inevitable and not necessarily bad.

Social media sites had a lot of new features to offer: instant messages, photo or video sharing and so on. They quickly became very popular, hence new features were needed to maintain people’s interest. Today social sites have grown in number; there is a site for everyone: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr and many more.

Apart from being useful, these sites contain dangers as well. For one thing, there are privacy issues. If someone registers they may become victims of hacking, cyber-bullying, identity theft and so on. Another danger is losing one’s basic social life. People can do almost everything online. They can meet up with friends, watch events via live feeds or get lost in the world of online multiplayer games. In this way one can become solitary, which can lead to antisocial behaviour. This can affect young children as well. In the past, youngsters did not need to be told to go outside to play with their friends. Nowadays they do not need the outside world when they have the virtual one at hand. There are some who loose their temper if the Internet is down or if they cannot get a strong Wi-Fi signal. Children with tablets or expensive mobile phones are becoming more and more frequent sights. They are wasting their childhoods. These children need to learn the importance of socializing and buildings friendships and connections, because in the end it is these things that matter. Probably there is no efficient prevention for children against the excessive usage of the Internet. The reasonable thing to do would be to talk to them and make them understand the importance of having a real social life, so that they can turn out to be happy and successful adults.

Despite the ever-growing use of technology and the amplifying virtual reality, people should be able to find time for things that really matter in life. Albert Einstein once said that he fears that a day might come when technology could take over human life completely. This utterance is becoming more or less a reality but it is not too late to change…