Research paper from 2010 English class about social media usage correlations with child and adult behavior changes.

1. Justine Jones
ENC 1102
April 15, 2010
Social Networking Sites and Their Effects and Dangers on Society
In the firstquarterof 2010, the Facebookwebsitealone hadover400 millionactive users, witheach
userspendinganaverage of 70-80 minutesperday and up to tenhoursper weekinusage (FBStats).
These statisticsdonotinclude manyothersocial networkingsites available onthe internet, suchas
Myspace and Twitter. These numbershave risen40percentoverthe past year,and 85 percentinthe
past three years,makingthe massadoptionof networkingsitesone of the biggestmigrationefforts
since the transitionfromblackandwhite tocolor televisioninthe 1970’s (Watkins25). The WorldWide
Webhas not onlybecome ourprimarymediumforcommunicationandinformation, butalsothe place
where mostof us turn to shop,work, play andfindrelationships. Thisimmersioninadigital culture has
rapidlychangedthe general wayof life andreshapedourmindsandculture inwaysthathave yetto be
discovered,shownthroughthe rapidadaptationtothe virtual world (Watkins 42).
All people have the needtofeelconnected andsociallyacceptedbyothers. Accordingtoa
surveyconductedbyTime Magazine in2008, 76 percentof youthfromages 12-17 reportedfeelingthe
needtoknowwhat ishappeningwithpeersonadailybasis,orevenmore frequently(Siegel 23). This
wayof thinkingisexactlywhatmakesyouthsuchaneasytarget fornetworking sitesandall other
companieslinkedwiththem. Beingable toexchange information,pictures,thoughts andideasthrough
these virtual friendshipsmayhave amore addictive effectonyoungpeople thananyother generation
and the resultsare startingto showdrastically (Cava). Dr. Greenfield,aprofessorof synaptic
pharmacologyatLincolnCollege,Oxford,statesthatsocial networksitesriskinfantilizingthe mid-21st

2. centurymind,leavingitcharacterizedbyshortattentionspans,sensationalism,inabilitytoempathize,
and a shakysense of identity. She saysto a reporterinone interview,"If the youngbrainisexposed
fromthe outsettoa worldof fastaction andreaction,of instantnew screenimagesflashingupwiththe
pressof a key,suchrapidinterchange mightaccustomthe brainto operate oversuch timescales.
Perhapswheninthe real worldsuchresponsesare notimmediatelyforthcoming,we willsee such
behaviors andcall themattention-deficitdisorder.” Greenfieldalsopointsoutthe threefoldincrease
overthisperiodinprescriptionsformethylphenidate,the drugprescribedforattention-deficit
hyperactivitydisorder,andquestionswhetherthe neartotal submersionof ourculture inscreen
technologiesoverthe lastdecade mightinsome waybe linkedto thisincrease (Sylvers). Itismore
importantto realize thesetrendsinbehavior of the upcominggenerations now thanevertoinorderto
identifyhowthiswill affectthe future economicallyandfundamentally. Through a digital world,
everythinghappensinstantly. Playinggamesorupdatingpostsonthe internetalwaystake place inan
instant,andalmostalwayscan be re-done ortakenback inan instantas well. Inthis“digital age,”
consequence ishardlyanissue whenitcomestomakingchoices,simplydotothe ease of deleting,
erasing, orre-attemptingataskthroughthe computerscreen. Thistype of activity,adisregardfor
consequence,canbe comparedwiththe thrill of compulsive gambling,compulsive eating,orcompulsive
moneyspendinghabits (Tapscott55). Withthese habitsforming,youngergenerationsare muchless
likelytocreate retirementplansorany type of savingsfor the future. If the impulsivetrendcontinues
throughadulthood,suchbehaviors inmassnumbers couldleadtodevastatingreactionssuchasstock
marketcrashesand a drug dependantsociety. The sheerrush of reliable andalmostimmediate reward
isbeinglinkedtosimilarchemical systemsinthe brainthatmay alsoplaya part indrug addiction,which
explainswhysomanyyoungpeople claimthattheirFacebookaccountsare a“necessity,”orthat they
are “addicted”toMyspace. Thisnoted, adultsshouldnotunderestimatethe 'pleasure'of interacting
witha screenwhen they puzzle overwhyitseemssoappealingtoyoungpeople (Rice 15).

3. Althoughmanypeople believe thatthe addictiontothese siteshappenedbysheerchance,
there are many people whowork tirelessly tomake thisattractionhappen,andwhose salarydepends
on it. KellyWinters,agrad studentfromUCLA forBusinessManagement,isaleaddeveloperforthe
FacebookDevelopingNetworkandisalsoa StrategyandBusinessOperationsAssociateforGoogle,Inc.
I was fortunate enoughtocontacther fora shortinterview viaonline chatting,andherknowledge and
opinionsonthe subjectof virtual worldsthroughsocial networkingsiteswasverythought-provoking.
She believesthatthisonce “beta”trendof trial networksiteshasgrownway outof control for those
whoonce thoughttheywouldrule thisvirtual empire,anditsexponentiallyrisingpopularitywasnever
evendreamedof fromthe beginning. Asa developerforthe Facebooksite,itisWinters’jobtofind out
whatappealsto the publicandcreate a more attractive appearance fortheirsite. Thisalsomeans
intermittently conductingsurveys andaskingquestionsaboutthe growinguse of these sitesand
technologyitself,inwhichthisinformationisrecordedandsharedwithall teammembersof Facebook.
Winters’sharedwithme thatnearly93 percentof the youngpeople interviewed underthe age of 25
claimedtobe “alwayson” inone way or another,whetherconnectedtoamobile phone,iPod,or
personal computer. Kellysharesthatherjobissometimesacontroversial one, since the teammembers
are rewardedforall newmemberstheybringtothe site, andthat heremployersoftenencourage them
to try and come up withnewideastokeepmembersof the site interestedlonger. She explains,“Many
people don’trealize howmuchtime andmoneygoesintojustthe general appeal of all networking sites.
Millionsof dollarsgointoadvertisementsalone,andwe currentlyhave atleast12 researchfacilities
providinginformationusedbyFacebooktobetter allurethe public.” Thisstressingof attractingpeople
to networkingsitesmayplayamajor role inwhy ithas made such a mark on society,andthe successis
not onlyevidentinthe presscoverage,statisticcounts, orgeneral popularity,butinthe paychecksof
the menand womenwhostarteditall. WhenTom Anderson andhisteamproposedthe ideaof the
networkingsite Myspace in2003, he wasofferedamere 2.5 million dollars forownershiprightsby

4. InterMix Media,theircurrentemployeratthe time. Twoyears laterinJune of 2005, Myspace was
boughtout byRupertMurdoch’s NewsCorporationfor580 milliondollars,asale thatwouldpromise
comfortable livingforInterMix Employees. Facebook,Inc.isa companyprivatelyowned bythe creator,
Mark Zuckerburg,andhisteammates. Thissite bringsin over550 millionayearin bannerads, referral
marketing,games,andvirtual services and Facebookstockis alsocurrentlyvaluedatabout6.5 billion
(Sylvers). Afterrealizingthe businessaspectof these sitesandthe successof these internetmoguls,itis
not hard to see that there are many people behindthisnetworkingcraze.
Most people whohave heardof Myspace,Facebook,orotherpopularnetworkingsiteswould
say that theyare placeswhere userscanmeetnew people andshare informationaboutthemselves.
Eventhoughthisdefinition wasthe general goal the creatorshadwhenmakingthem, thiseasily
accessible informationhasleftmanynaïve membersinavulnerable position. InOctoberof 2005, the
firstself-propagatingcross-sitescripting(XSS) worm wascreatedforthe Myspace website,hackinginto
overone millionuserprofilesinjustfourhours. Most of the time,these phishersandwormsare easily
able to accesspersonal informationthroughcomputercaches,suchasbank account loginsorpast
transactions. MSNBChas reportedthat"social-networkingsiteslike MySpace are turningouttobe
hotbedsforspyware,"and"infectionratesare onthe rise, thanks,inpart, to the surgingpopularityof
social networkingsiteslikeMySpace.com.” Because of the HTML altering capabilityof Myspace,itis
immediatelyone of the mostusedsitesforscammers due tothe abilitytohide certaininformation.
AlthoughFacebookdoesnothave this feature,itstillisundersiege by“dataminers”thatrepeatedly
breachthe sitescode andeasilyattachto the victim’scomputerwhileextractinginformation
unknowingly(Auletta). Preventativemeasureshave beentakenbybothMyspace andFacebook.
Redirectinglinksandwebhostnames throughMSPLinks,awebhostthatencodesdatausingan
advancedmethod,have helpedkeephackersunderwrapsonthe Myspace site. Facebookhasalso
createda message box thatwarns userswhenthe informationtheyare aboutto receive isnotof the

5. Facebooksite,andthe usersare thengiventhe optiontoterminate the action. Althoughthese
measureshave made adifference,these sitesare still neededtobe usedwithcautionandcan
sometimesyielddevastationon yourbankaccount andidentity.
Hackers can be extremelydangerouswhendealingwithsocial networkingsites,buttheyare not
the worst type of predatorthat seeksoutvulnerable site users. InJuly2007 alone,Myspace foundand
deleted29,000 profilesbelongingtoregisteredsex offenders. Anti-pedophileorganizationPerverted
Justice haspraisedMySpace forits effortstocombat pedophilesusingtheirservice,but itiscloudy on
whois reallytoblame inthe firstplace. Since theirgrowingpopularityandexploitation,bothMyspace
and Facebookhave come underattackboth inthe pressand in the court room (Rice 36). More than
fifteencollective multi-milliondollarlawsuits,andevenmore internationally, have beenfiledbyparents
of children claimingsexual assaultby adultsthey metonsocial networkingsites. Eventhoughthe finger
may be unjustlypointedatthe sites,since the younggirlswillinglyinteractedwiththese menwithout
knowingthempersonally,these meetingswouldprobablynothave takenplace withoutthe website.
Because none of the sitesneedanykindof formal identificationtocreate a profile,anyonecanclaimto
be someone theyare not. This misleadinginformation easilyfoolsyoungpeople intocommunicating
withsomeone theyneverwouldhave metotherwise (Siegel 65). Besidessexual predators,the next
mostdangeroustype of internetuseristhe cyber-bully. Cyberbullyingisthe use of technology to
harass or embarrassothersoverthe internet. Accordingtoa surveyconductedbyStanfordUniversity,
63 percentof middle andhighschool studentshave experiencedcyber-bullyinginone wayor another
(Watkins42). One infour has hadthishappenmore than three times,and60 percentof the victims
reportedtohave hiddenitfromtheirfriendsandfamily. June 2007, A fifteenyearoldgirl fromthe
UnitedKingdomcommittedsuicideafterbeingbulliedthroughmessagesonthe networkingsite Bebo.
Since then,the numbersof teenagerstakingtheirownlivesbecause of the hurtful thingspeoplehave
saidoverthe internethave risendramatically,butare difficulttocount(Siegel 72).

6. Otherunsuspecting membersof the social networksitepredatorcategory are the government
it’sself andworkplace management. The governmentisincreasinglymonitoringFacebook,Twitterand
othersocial networkingsitesfortax delinquents,copyrightinfringersandpolitical protesters. The Wall
StreetJournal reportedthis pastsummerthatstate revenue agentshave beensearchingfortax
scofflawsbymininginformationonMySpace andFacebook.InOctober,the F.B.I.searchedthe New
York home of a mansuspected of helpingcoordinateprotest meetingsinPittsburghbysendingout
messagesoverTwitter. Insome cases,the governmentappearstobe engagedindeception.The Boston
Globe recentlyquotedaMassachusettsdistrictattorneyassayingthatsome police officerswere going
undercoveronFacebookaspart of theirinvestigations. Thousandsof dollarseachyearare goinginto
these undercovereffortstogetintoprofiles,and officialsbelieve thatthisisjustthe beginning(Twitter
Tapping).
Althoughnetworkingsiteslike Myspace andFacebookare free touse,membersmaybe paying
the price whenitcomesto the jobhunt. Tim DeMello, the ownerandCEOof the Internetcompany
Ziggs, runsan industry inwhichpeople postonlinebusiness-orientedprofiles.DeMelloestimatesthat
about40 percentof companiesare secretlyscanningonlineprofilesbefore theyinterview applicants.
What theyoftenfindcanbe extremelyshocking, includingprofilesthatdetail druguse, unacceptable
promiscuity, andillegal behavior. "Theycome inall buttonedup,theirclothingismeticulous,they
spendyearsbuildingthisresume,andthispersonthat'ssittingthere isalmostentirelydifferentthanthe
personpostingonthese Websites,"saysDeMello. Manyemployersadmitthey'veevenlearnedhowto
access profilesstudentsthinkare "private,”andtheydon’thesitate tomake ajudgmentbasedonthese
profiles (Clark).
Regardlessof howsocietyviews the new social networkingcraze,there isnodenyingthatithas
become one of the most revolutionary inventionsininternettechnology. Evenjustlookingatthe

7. statistics,the shockinglyprogressive increase in membersshowsthatthis“fad”hasbecome a part of
everydaylife forthe majorityof youngpeople,andhasan extreme impactontheirlives. Inthisdayand
age,livingwithoutacomputerwouldbe borderline unbelievable. Almostall typical householdsaround
the worldhave at leastone computerat whichusers spendtime writing,playing,learningorinteracting.
Since thisissuch a well knownpractice everywhere,itwouldonlymake sense todigdeeperintothe
effectsof interactingwithothersthroughacomputerscreen,andwhyitmay notbe a goodideato
dependondigital interactionsasstandardcommunicationratherthanpersonal ones.