Antisocial Networking From The New York Times By Hilary Stout

Before the emergence of social media, we spent our childhood lives with friends which shaped a foundation for establishing strong relationships with others. But when technology became a major part of daily life, face-to-face communication with friends became the past and the menacing social media became its replacement. In the article “Antisocial Networking?” from The New York Times by Hilary Stout, the author asserts that the outburst of technology among children is affecting today’s kids negatively by influencing them to be less involved in face-to-face communication with their friends than before and miss out on experiences to help kids develop lifelong skills to show empathy for others. Social media is undeniably not supportive for kids

Kids have confidence in social media they reflect on the positives of social networking such as being able to connect with friends easily. In reality, social media is not helping kids at all. Gary Small, neuroscientist and professor from the article “Antisocial Networking?” states that “Even though young digital natives (a term for the generation grown up using computers) are very good with the tech skills, they are weak with the face-to-face human contact skills.” In other words, social media is increasing the skills kids have with technology but depriving them of their social skills. Essentially, kids who are so focused in using social media is lacking necessities for developing social skills. Without a constant flow of development in social skills, kids will soon be deprived of their friendships. While one might argue that social media is beneficial for kids as it gives them a foundation to work upon, the fact is, kids who are using social media are losing more fundamentals than gaining. From rudimentary communication approaches to identifying facial expressions, the deduction of kids’ communication skills is harming kids as it is terminating links kids have with their friends

Social media traps kids in the cyber world with socializing sites such as Facebook or Instagram, persuading kids to spend more time online than offline. The more time the kids occupy socializing through the internet than in person, the more unproductive they are in life. Research from the Pew Research Center in the article “Antisocial Networking” indicated that , “… half of American teenagers – defined in the study as ages 12 through 17 – send 50 or more text messages a day and that one third send more than 100 a day.” Although this statistic seems to demonstrate teens being productive online, the persistent usage of social media is making kids over-obsessed with social media. The obsession of social media is manipulating kids into believing that it is a necessity to devote more time socializing through technology, thus reducing their general health. With social media stealing kids’ precious time and hurting their mental and physical state, the result is the deterioration of kids’ total