Social Networking: the future of our world

As I attempt to write this blog my mind draws a blank. As I stare at the screen I think to myself, "I wonder if anyone has written on my wall in the past five minutes." So I quickly open a new tab, type in an "F" which brings up the frequently visited site, Facebook. I have been a Facebook glutton for a little over five years. However, this is not where my adoration for social networking sites began. When I was in middle school, Xanga was all the rage. I logged on every night to see if any of my friends had commented on my recent post about my much detested math teacher. That is where my love of social networking began, and as the story goes, it was love at first sight.

According to toptenreviews.com, Facebook is the number one social networking site on the Internet today, followed closely by the slightly more scandalous, Myspace. Our obsession with connecting with our friends over cyberspace has reached into every aspect of the lives of young people. However, while this preoccupation with social networking is often attributed to the younger generation, I am beginning to think that I receive more friend requests from my friend's mothers (and even grandmothers) than my own friends! This social networking phenomenon has reached into every generation! It is no longer a stigma that can only be attached to "Generation X", but this disease is beginning to prey on the young and the old.
Social networking is beginning to wear away at the ability for people to communicate with another. Some might laugh at this statement as they begin yet another wall post or Facebook chat session. To many, mediated communication via social networking is the same as sitting in a friend's living room gabbing about the latest gossip. However, social networking and even Internet dating has become the new norm. It is no longer necessary to know how to function outside of sitting behind a computer screen. You can now write a novel, be an analyst, and even fall in love.
Many companies are even using this new craze to do a little research on job candidates. According to research completed by Microsoft, "Four in ten HR managers have chosen not to hire a candidate based on information they have seen on a social networking site such as Facebook." As if the threat of an increasing percentage of unemployment were not enough for recent college grads, they must now be worried about all the embarrassing photos and wall posts their friends have plastered all over their walls without any thought as to the possible consequences.
Social networking is not a problem that will go away in the near future. With the number of Facebook profiles growing seemingly exponentially every day, this social phenomenon has become a way of life.