Persuasive Paper

Kanjana Wandee
Christine Whipple
English 101
November 11, 2013
Negative Effects of Social Networking
People have been using social networking for a decade. There are many pros and cons that come with the use of social networking. People don’t realize how much time they waste inside on the computer when they could be doing other things. There are many security risks that social networks bring about by asking for our personal information to be displayed on the Internet. Thanks to social networking the time spent interacting face –to- face with our family and friends is almost non-existent. Social networks pose many negative side effects to people that overuse them.
People spend a lot of time on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook each day. “36% of people surveyed listed social networking as the biggest waste of time” (Social Networking, 1). When people use the Internet, they tend to become addicted, and spend many hours in front of the computer. Young children start out early as young as 8 years old using social media instead of playing outside. For example “40% of 8 to 18 year olds spend 54 minutes a day on social media sites” (Social Networking, 1). People don’t just go to social networking sites to post a message, and send a tweet. They go there to play games that these sites have on them. “42% of American internet users play games like Farmville or Mafia wars” (Social Networking, 1) while on these social networking sites. If people stop wasting there time online, they will have plenty of time to make their life better.
Internet security is a big problem. People put their personal information out all over these social networking sites. The problem is that if you put personal information online, there a pretty good chance that is will fall into the hands of the wrong people. “The biggest risk of putting personal information online is identify theft” (The Cons of Social Media, 1). Social networking sites are vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking, identity theft, and viruses that can steal your information. “68% of social media users share their birth date publicly, 63% share their high school name, 18% share their phone numbers, and 12% share a pet name” (Social Networking, 1); each of those pieces of information is frequently used for account security verification and can be used for identity theft. People should be aware and be careful when putting information online because anyone can see it and use it against them.
Social Media will interfere with your reactions between your family and friends. It eliminates the face-to-face reactions between each other. People don’t sit down with their family

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