Many people believe that social networking sites (such as Facebook) have had huge negative impact on both individuals and society. To what extent do you agree?

Nowadays, social networking websites seem to have occupied the biggest part of folks’ lifestyles, posing different threats both individually on humans and collectively on communities. While it is certainly true that such sites predispose to more frequent feelings of depression, I also agree that they can play a vital role of easing communications. On the one hand, social networking web pages may be negatively reflected on humans’ well being. In fact, having registered on popular networks such as Instagram, many individuals acquire an addiction to online interactions with other users. Such an addiction is scientifically proven to stem from the release of an addictive hormone named dopamine which is responsible for the feelings of pleasure. Every time a person accumulates “likes”, this hormone makes him feel good. However, should a man not receive enough likes, he might feel hopelessly depressed due to lacking this hormone. As a result, not only does this addiction hinder face to face communications, but also it may negatively impact the wellbeing of a nation as a whole. On the other hand, social sites undoubtedly facilitate social interactions. In other words, being a user of these pages, human beings are able to connect to their friends and family without any distance barriers. They can see what their peers or favourite celebrities are doing just by visiting their feed on Facebook or Instagram. Moreover, the advent of modern technologies, which connect to the internet, has made people more aware of news of all kinds. For example, hardly had news been released than the majority of internet users receive push notifications from their social networks. Therefore, these social pages have made the information exchange easier as it had been never before. The conclusion to be drawn is that the influence of social networks has been largely positive despite some drawbacks caused to peoples’ state of mind. Had the social networking sites not been developed to such an extent, long distance socializing would not have been as smooth as currently.