Are Social Networks Healthy or Unhealthy for Relationships?

Health Tips

By Lifestyle

In the age of social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Friendster (yes, Friendster is still popular in Asian countries), one begins to wonder whether it’s done anybody any good. Between the two of us, we have more than a thousand friends in Facebook. One of our friends has more 3,500 friends. With so many connections, we can’t help but wonder how social networks have helped us with our relationships. Let’s see:

Family – Being on Facebook has allowed us to maintain constant communication with our immediate family members and relatives. Somehow, our daily wall posts have given us topics for discussion on chat and during get-togethers. It’s also easier to keep up-to-date with the happenings in our lives.

Friends – Social networks gave us an opportunity to reconnect with dear old friends and form bonds with new ones. However, we’ve seen people on Facebook who treat their accounts as outlets for emotional shit, which can be off putting. One friend even got banned for posting too much lewd comments and raunchy photos.

Colleagues – Now, this is a little tricky. Yes, it’s okay to add your colleagues and bosses as friends. But refrain from chatting or commenting on status messages during office hours. Some bosses make random checks of social networks during office hours to see who’s not doing their work. You could get summoned by your HR manager for being too social during office hours. Now, that would be unhealthy.

To conclude: social networks are meant to make communication in relationships easier. However, inappropriate use of social networks can be unhealthy for you.

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Kim Al says:

As a general rule, I behave on social networks like I would in real life situations: with respect and civility.

Ryan says:

If you’re old enough to be on a social network, then you’re old enough to know how to properly conduct yourself in public. Facebook is not a private room. Everyone is watching.