Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships Using Social Mediums ...

Posted by admin on Jun - 17 - 2012

Are social networks helping society or destroying society when it comes to having relationships?In today?s digital world, society relies on social networking for building relationships online and offline. Everyone has a Facebook or Twitter account because they are two of the most common social networks. The issue is not the popularity of the social networks being a negative thing, but it is that healthy and unhealthy relationships online are often skewed in society by opinions of the media. Society has para-social relationships with celebrities through Twitter because they can follow the person of their choice, and read their everyday thoughts which leads to them thinking that they are actually a part of their life. In the media, this form of online relationship is considered to be acceptable and healthy, but in my opinion it can be damaging to one?s well-being because this is not a real relationship. Society needs to understand that there is a difference between the online and offline world. Some relationships through online mediums are healthy. For example, it is interesting that today people can have relationships with someone they have never met through social networking. It is a fact that today 1 in 5 relationships begin online. It is very common that a relationship blossoms from a dating website or Facebook. Social networks increase the amount of time one can keep in contact with people so relationships are easily kept intact while making the relationship stronger. Age is not an issue when it comes to these dating websites or social networking because more people are feeling comfortable about keeping and maintaining relationships online. There are even special dating websites that were created to accommodate every individual seeking a significant other. The access we have to social networks are helping and hurting society. The mediums are helping us to build and maintain relationships online and offline, but hurting us in the sense of realizing the difference between online and offline settings in our world.

(Veronica Vesper, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)

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