Socializing on the Internet vs. Socializing In Real Life

Neil Sharma

Persuasive Writing

Cheryl Clark

1 August 2011

Socializing on the Internet vs. Socializing In Real Life

Social networking is described by whatissocialnetworking.com as, “…a group of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online.” Social networking sites are very popular among the current young children and teenagers living all around the world. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ have not only changed the culture of the internet and how we communicate, but also changed the way people socialize. I personally think that these websites have changed socializing for the better but they do at times have some negative aspects. This is because the internet now provides people with a mask to hide behind.

These masks can come in many forms. For example some people use their profile picture to put up a façade. But others might argue that these pictures are supposed to represent all the fun times that they have had. I think that doesn’t show who the person is really. Some use these profile pictures to make them look more attractive or “cooler”. Some people don’t even use their own pictures and that can be interpreted in two ways. One way could be that they don’t feel comfortable about their image and the other is that they use their image to trick others into believing they are someone else.

When arguing the issue of meeting people on the internet versus meeting people in real life, it can be seen that there are major differences between the person one meets on the internet and the person one meets in real life. For example some people are more outgoing and say a lot of things, good or bad, on the internet. But when meeting the person in real life they might turn out to be the polar opposite of what they appear to be on the internet. This is because they use the internet as a way of disguising themselves and that allows them to say or do whatever they want. This in turn allows them to mislead people about who they really are in real life.

This can be both good and bad at the same time. It is good because it gives people who are normally quiet in real life an outlet to express what they want to say and that allows them to be heard since in real life they are not able to do that, but it also has caused some people to abuse the power of these social networking sites. This is because some use the internet to bully others and making fun of them without any known authority about the horrible things they are saying or doing to these children on the internet. These websites can also lead to what is commonly referred to as cyber-bullying. In 2006, ABC News recorded that that 42% of children have experienced some form of cyber-bullying or online harassment, but 58% of these children do not report these acts of online harassment to a parent, guardian, or adult Recent acts of cyber-bullying not only hurt people personally, but also mentally, which have caused suicides.

Additionally many of these Social networking sites do not censor swears. This means that people can post nasty things and cyber-bullies can even harass other children even more. Also this would cause children to learn new swear words or slang terms since some people are posting vulgar and disgusting words on the internet. This would start a cycle of name-calling and the use of vulgar words. This, to some extent, encourages children to be mean to each other and post mean things online.

These social networking sites not only provide a way for bullies for a way to disguise themselves but, it has also led to predators on the internet disguising themselves. Most of the time these predators who use these pseudonyms pose as a child or teenager who acts like a friend to the vulnerable children on the internet. This process of befriending the child is known as the grooming process. Then after gaining the trust of these children or teenagers over the internet they then ask them personal information which then leads to kidnapping and abusing these young children. Even NPR is noted for saying “predators are on the prowl for vulnerable and innocent users.” And many of the children who use these social networking sites are just looking for someone to talk to and share their feelings with. These predators then take advantage of these young individuals. This probably is the most dangerous aspect of social networking because it endangers the life of young ones.

But besides all the negatives of social networking there are also positives. For example these social networking sites allow people to chat with others privately without anybody seeing their conversation. A good example of this is the chat services that Facebook provides. These private chat features allow friends to have private conversations that no one can intrude on. Whereas in real life there might be people who intrude on other people’s conversation or even eavesdrop and listen in on another person’s conversation. So these chat features making conversations private allows people to talk to their friends and share their personal feelings without having anyone really listen in on them.

The other difference between socializing on the internet and socializing in real life is the amount of time a person has to respond to what another person says. In real life a person has to respond to another person within an instant, while online a person can take as long as they want with responding to a message. So if a person ever says something sentimental or weird online a person can take their time to respond to it while in real life if a person says something like that they have to respond within an instant.( http://users.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/showdown.html)

But even though these Social networking sites give users many freedoms, they also provide them with many restraints. For example, since these social networking sites use mostly written word, they lose their emotional effectiveness. This is because there is no longer any facial expression or voice when a user is talking to another person online.. Jon Suler writes on Psychology of Cyberspace, “In CSR mediated by text only, both obvious and subtle nuances in voice pitch and volume are completely absent”. This shows when talking on the internet the tone of voice cannot be heard, so no one can hear the emotion in a person’s voice. That in turn means that emotions cannot be shown through the internet. In conclusion, a person will not know whether a person is feeling happy, sad, or angry when talking to them online.

These modes of communication are both very different from each other and both have their own negative aspects. But in the end, communicating through these new Social networking sites has changed the way we interact with each other and socialize, whether it is for the good or the bad. This is because it sometimes can be a way a person can disguise themselves and use it to abuse and hurt others. Some use it to bully others while some people use it to disguise themselves online to kidnap and abuse children and teenagers. While on the other hand, some people use the internet as a way of expressing themselves, since in real-world socializing they find it harder to convey their thoughts but find it easier to do it online. Some use the features of the social networking such as chatting online as a way to keep their conversations private. But in the end, these Social networking sites have changed the whole landscape of socializing and have allowed people to communicate in ways they haven’t communicated before.