Internet and Social Networking

Internet and Social Networking

Technological progress is increasingly influencing the way people relate, communicate, socialize, educate, and live. A recent rapid change in technological advancements has resulted in competing views about the impact of emerging technologies on social interaction, leisure behavior, and health. The utopian discourse assumes a positive influence of the internet by increasing social support, and improving mental and psychological health. Some researchers claim that internet is a social artifact and a medium of socialization that has the potential to reduce differences of race, gender, and class (Barry Wellman, 2011). There are those that view the internet as a dangerous medium that encourages deviance, social isolation, and depression. This write up looks at these contradictory views of the influences of the internet on young adults (18 – 25 years) in Kenya by assessing the relationships between the internet uses and emerging technologies on social involvement.

Although the expectation that the internet could transform social interaction and break barriers of diversity; its use has also reinforced societal and cultural values such individualism and consumerism. Technology and leisure develop from the social interactions with the environment and they become a product of the relationship between the social groups. Technology is a political tool that has the potential to reduce differences of race, gender, and class but its uses and design carry some social exclusion purposes. It has accentuated differences between those individuals with access and those who are mere spectators of technological advances. Thus, access to technology is related to power and only those with economical power can benefit from the internet uses leading to the increase of social exclusion.

Involvement in online communities does not mean lack of participation in offline community (Wellman & Gullia, 1999). The internet is a social artifact and a medium of socialization. According to Pruijt (2002), internet communication tends to complement real-world interaction and does not destroy social capital. The Internet can support and enhance communities that to some extent depend on face-to-face interaction. But at the same time computer use also tends to be an individualistic activity which is only shared in a virtual space and time. The argument remains as to whether the Internet has positive or negative influences in social interaction and social support. Kraut et al., (1998) explains that weak and strong social ties depend on frequency of contacts, feeling, and physical proximity and that the use of the Internet may shape these ties and how people maintain their relationships.

Kraut et al., also discusses the potential of the Internet in decreasing social involvement and in consequence

diminishing the individual’s psychological and physical well-being. Putnam (1995) argues that this social

disengagement is associated with poor quality of life and a decreased in participation in social activities (i.e. dinner parties, voluntary work, church, etc). Mallory and Miles (2000) suggest that emerging or disruptive technologies are innovations that have dramatic influences on how we live, work and play. These technologies have transformed leisure practices and disassociated leisure from its traditional conceptualization.

Leisure is no longer a disposition of the mind, spontaneous and genuine; it has become a disposition of the society and reduced to “empty time.” The question is:has the essence of leisure been damaged by technological advancements?

One of the major impacts of the internet has been the traditional separation of work and leisure. Technology inserts work into peoples’ lives which make it harder to keep balance and the work-leisure separation. E-mail and computers allow us to be away from the workplace but not from work. In this sense, technology has helped us feel less guilty. In consequence, secluded places for leisure experience are hard to find and technology has not liberated us for full and free enjoyment of leisure; instead, technology has enslaved us. There is a decline of face-to-face interactions due to technological advancement and at the same time there is an increase of seclusion and isolation. Mesch (2001) states that computer use is an individualistic activity; that the user is alone in a physical space while interacting with others online.

2011.07.16 ©