Will internet social networking sites ever go away?

[Miss Kennedy]

Please don't say anything too mean ... but you can say your opinion.

I really don't like the internet social networking sites (such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc), and there are a few reasons why, including:
- They take up so much time - and 100% of that time is spent in from of a computer
- They discourage real conversations with real people in real life. I have noticed people don't really talk to each other anymore, they all do it online
- There is a HUGE loss of privacy, even if you only allow your 'friends' to see your page. This is because of hacking ... happens all the time. Happened to 3 of my friends in the last 6 months. Also, everybody feels pressure to put stuff online, that all their friends will see, that 10 years ago nobody would've ever seen.
- People lie to make friends, and although this happens in real life too, people put it in writing on the internet (which is very dangerous)
- People make plans over these sites ... which is bad for two main reasons. 1. Anybody can find out (hacking, and don't pretend it doesn't exist) and 2. Someone who doesn't get involved in these sites (like me) will not know what my friends are doing together (I miss out a lot).
- I go to an all girls school, and so the only way that my friends make friends with boys is over the internet. Now, I have a few (not very close) male friends (as I don't see them that often), but the way that my friends have boyfriends is through the internet. They have internet boyfriends!
- With all the time wasted on these sites, pretending to 'talk', other more important things (like studying, and actually going out to talk) are put aside.

We have become very unsocial, and have lost track of what it is like to be real people in the real world. So, my question is, do you ever think this social-networking obsession will die? Because, at the moment, Myspace is like an abandoned amusement park ... will that happen to the others? Will we ever go back to a society like 10/15 years ago ... advanced, yet, not run by technology.

ALSO, text messaging all the time is very unsocial too ... what do you think?
x

P.S. I am 16 ... if ya wanted to know
The reason why it is less social, is because it isn't real socialising. I mean, you put a few pictures/statements on your facebook wall ... and that's how you talk to people ... seriously? It isn't healthy, or normal, and people have lived for milleniums in real life, why is it so bad all of the sudden?
Also, you saying that the only difference is there is 'no physical interaction' ... that is the worst thing that could happen to this world. If, in a few years, people live their whole lives on the internet, it would be a damn shame that they never had what was intended (at birth) to be a regular life. Stopping physical interation between people is extremely counter-productive to our evolution ... it is that simple. Very, very bad if this is what the world will come to.

[JK ultimate]

I donot agree with you......the person that we are communicating is also humans that we know....the social sites and computers are a medium for chatting.

We can communicate with our older friends, and relatives who are abroad or far way..

You don't need to make unknown friends from internet...just connect with your known friends...

i'm using twitter,orkut,facebook,etc....social sites..and i'm only 17

[_anonymous_]

first off, i don't see why talking over the internet is worse or less "social" than talking in real life. the only difference is there is no physical interaction.

a lot of what you're saying is centered around the belief that socializing over the internet or other electronic media is "less social" than doing it in real life. could you explain WHY socializing electronically is less "social"?

what's the big deal with people not holding real-life conversations anymore? like i said, it's just as "social"

next, WHY do these sites take up a lot of time? because people like them, of course!

if your friends only plan stuff online, why don't you just make an account on these social networking sites and use it sparingly, just to check up on these plans? you don't have to use it all the time.

yes, i'll admit that having an internet boyfriend or girlfriend is bad, but only because people lie about themselves on the internet.

text messaging, again, is just another form of communication. it's still just as social

and myspace isn't the only social networking site out there, so you can't use it as an indicator for how social networking is catching on in general. perhaps myspace couldn't keep up with its competitors