social networking: is it destroying our future?

Social networking is now and forever will be in our lives. But is it doing more harm than good? According to Bernhard Warner, the author of "Is Social Networking a Waste of Time?", says that it helps kids and young adults to help bring out their inner creativity. I think that it is certainly bringing something out of them. Laziness. Teenagers these days spend an average of 12 hours a week on these social networking sites, whether it is Twitter or Facebook, they are constantly on them. Now, these sites do have some pros to them, I'll admit. For instance, it is a good way to keep in touch with your loved ones that may not live so close to home. I have family in London and I do like to talk to them time to time on Facebook, but that doesn't mean I am on it 24/7. Kids have even came to admit to be on their phones using social media while in class! In the article I talked about previously, it states that "No educator would knowingly allow such a distraction in their classroom and yet, it appears to be happening right under their noses." I would not want our future children to lose their education opportunities because of some dumb post on Twitter that they have to "retweet". This is our future generation and to tell you the truth, I am a little frightened of what is to come.

Now some teachers have tried to use all of this to their advantage. Warner, who also is a university lecturer at John Cabot University in Rome, encourages his students to use social media to their advantage, like posting about an online student newspaper or build and promote projects they have worked on in class to produce feedback. This is very helpful, I will admit, but I just feel like we could come at this from a different angle, or create a different way to promote a project--the old fashion way. Tell someone about your project or paper you have to write in class. instead of posting a picture of your homework asking for answers on Instagram, get together with some friends and make a study group. The best part about this? IT IS IN PERSON. No hiding behind a keyboard or a phone, just good ole' face to face conversation. I think that is what todays and future generations are lacking.