It is said that “Sharing is caring”. But, then, it is not applicable to anything and everything. Of course, “sharing is caring”, but the very sense is more applicable to things which have got positive impact on people other than you and not just you. This implies to the fact that when you share something from which somebody is going to get some benefit or have some positive impact in their life, it is good or else it is good for nothing. And, social networking is one such platform where it is being believed that often sharing things have got negative on somebody’s else life.
Since the advent of social networking sites, most of us have been addicted to sharing things (relevant or irrelevant to others in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and so on), in text form. Even for me, I got my first “Hi5” account in 2004 and it got all messed up because of security breach and I was not the only victim, but most of our friends were victimized. Finally, I decided to completely sign off from “hi5” and decided to create another one in one of the then emerging most auspicious social networking sites – “Facebook.
When I created that account, I was not sure why I was creating it, and then what was I going to do with it. I was, basically, addicted to internet, webpages and things connected to it. But, then, slowly after using it, I started realizing that this is something which is surely going to change the world in the communication field. Since the advent of the social networking sites, people were less confined to using emails and emails seemed starting fading with time and it slowly started becoming quite apparent that it is only useful for sending and sharing documents more than communicating and messaging.
With more emerging cool features, people started getting used to Facebook and Twitter comparatively more than any other communicating medium. Texting were supposed to be more convenient and more preferred method of communication than email and phone calls. Now, it’s the time when Facebook has completely took to the stage and has grabbed most part of this communication world after it has launched its document sharing platform in its personal messaging feature.
But, then, there was a problem. More and more studies and researches started showing that people started becoming more narcissist and more egocentric based on what people share on their profile. Studies started showing that we are losing our real social life while we are more indulged in the virtual social life. It has completely engrossed our life as a whole and we are distancing ourself from our family and those we use to care once. The world seemed moving away from its normal course of life.
It might be true to some point that we are becoming more egocentric and more narcissist as we are being driven away from the normal social life. But, what I feel is that it might just be a part of the whole story. If we think of sharing things on social networking sites in a positive manner, we will find that we have become more and more social and we have started even caring more about our near and dear ones than previously thought otherwise. We share our moments, our state of mind, local news and weather report in real-time. We are more connected now than we use to be.
I met my school friends on Facebook after years of gap – those who were completely out of touch. These social networking sites have made it possible I make time to meet them which otherwise would not have been possible. It has helped me to get more organized and now I can manage time to meet them all in person just because of these social networking sites. If we think about communication in a positive manner, I would say that it is easier to initiate conversation with people you don’t know on social networking sites and through internet rather than talking in person for the first time (which is often less comfortable). Talking on internet, gives us less chance to be judgmental about somebody we are completely unfamiliar with because of their body language. Now, don’t tell me that you don’t do because that will again impart tint of narcissism – we all do at some point of time – this is a human nature, and I guess there is nothing wrong about it!
I would say that internet, social networking sites are giving us a platform to open up ourself though various ways – either through sharing your thoughts, about things happening your life or else through the various kinds of news. Now, it’s only to those who take it either positive or negative. Everything we say, it always has both positive as well as negative connotation on it. Now, its all up to us how we take it. People those who share good news about their life (for example, if s/he gets scholarship, or got graduated, got fellowship, got into a beautiful relationship, got married, won a lottery) might not be thinking of making somebody else jealous of their life. Because, it is a common sense that whatever you do with your life and however is your life, sooner or later it is going to come out with its real face and there is nothing to boast about. Even if you follow the rules of “dos and don’ts” of social networking sites, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will end up a very magnificent portfolio in social networking site.
The the only tangible thing to think about is that, “People these days are not sad as much as of their own downturn or sadness as they are of because of somebody’s else happiness”. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what you share on the social networking site. It’s up to those who take it either positive or negative. I believe, therefore, that internet has always good impact rather than negative impact on personal behavior. It is all up to us to how we take it – either, we let ourself being taken over by it and get molded by it or else we take on it.
Happy browsing! Long Live The Internet!
A Walk To Remember 