Assignment 10: Why is social software a blessing in disguise?

I believe social software is both a blessing and a curse. Social software does allow people to unleash their creativity in a way and connect with others sharing the same passion and through that they can learn new techniques. On the other hand, it can become an obsession or a waste of time as some people can spend most of their day scrolling through information without being active online. According to the article, Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? By Danah Boyd, “More conservative educators view social technologies as a product of the devil, bound to do nothing but corrupt and destroy today’s youth.” We all have heard of cases of students losing their college acceptances based on something they did on social media and teachers losing their jobs for the same thing. In a way, these conservative educators are right because for some youth, social software has completely taken over their life and they start to forget about school or hobbies and focus on being popular online or consuming as much media content as they can without realizing it. Boyd states that it is important to “educate through conversation instead of the assertion of power” and to keep an open mind when talking about the dangers of social software. Many parents might believe that restricting their child’s use of social media will be beneficial but it ends up creating far greater problems as the child will continue to find ways to do and say what they want online and keep it private from their parents. Parents should find ways to let their children be free online but always have conversations about how to beware of the dangers online and how the information you post can affect you in the future.

An abundant amount of people are making money from being online and thus are spending a lot of time online and using social software. According to the article, Gin, Television, and Social Surplus By Clay Shirky, “in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads” and “two hundred billion hours watching television every year”. We consume media more than we think. Some people see it as a norm to watch television and be online for most of their day. This prohibits them from having hobbies, learning important life skills, and physically interacting with others. If people spent as much time learning a new language as they do watching television, then they could easily learn a few languages throughout their lifetime. Of course, a lot of people do use online platforms to learn languages but far more people get distracted and use it to be connected. I started putting time restrictions on how much time I spend on my social media apps on my phone and I have noticed I am spending more time talking to people and it feels good to not be connected to a little device 24/7. I hope that in the future, kids will learn how to effectively use social software and technologies and that obsession over being online comes to an end.

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