Literature Review

Literature Review

Social networking via Facebook alone attracts 700,000 to 750,000 new users per day. (A1 in appendix) (Smith, insidefacebook.com, 2009) Users are becoming more and more involved in social networking. People who use the website a lot have now been diagnosed with FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder). “After US psychologists began their probe into FAD, millions of Facebook users – there are an estimated 350 million around the world – have admitted to being addicted.” (AD, sickfacebook.com, 2010) Social networking is reducing the amount of real social interaction with each other. Searle (2008, pp.6) states that” nowadays we can even meet friends and potential partners online rather than in real social situations.” Through the use of social networking sites, people can hide behind their computers. As a result of this, users can become shy and in turn will not have good social skills. This is also supported by Searle (2008, pp.6) “This could lead to an even bigger increase in social anxiety and social phobia in the future” In contrast to these views Awl (2009, pp.43) voices that “Facebook can absolutely be part of a healthy balanced diet.” Not everyone who uses social networking sites have less face-to-face contact but at the same time, it seems a lot more time effective and convenient to speak to all your friends on the computer at the same time than actually going to see them individually. Awl (2009, pp.43) then goes on to say that “with a little self control and moderation you can tend your Green Patch on Facebook and still make it outside to smell the nonvirtual petunias well before the sun sinks in the west.” The researcher believes that social networking is a tremendous step in how people communicate, but it should be used when needed, in small amounts rather than relied on.