Social Networking and the Internet: its applications and implications

One could enumerate some of the pros and cons of the Internet without much trouble: social networking helps people stay connected to one another, yet the theoretical filter bubble circumscribes users of social networking sites, thus severing the connection between them; the Internet is easy enough to operate that even young children can make use of its manifold features, but online predators and bullies have turned the Internet into into a place where many are preyed upon; students can almost effortlessly find information on the Internet, yet some use it to cheat, taking advantage of websites such as Sparknotes.com. With such a wide-reaching and powerful tool--as the Internet clearly is--such diverse implications are bound to appear.
Eli Pariser coined the phrase filter bubble to describe the phenomenon of websites such as Google and Facebook having the ability to customize themselves according to specific users. The problem with this, of course, is that it cuts the user off from the many different views circulating throughout the Internet, instead trading them for views that are more to the taste of the user. New information is not acquired when one is only exposed to what he/she wishes to be exposed to. In the 2008 presidential race, the Obama administration set a record by earning $55 million in donations via social networking strategies, proving that social networking has an all-too-useful place in politics. Consider the implications of a filter bubble in the realm of politics, though. If Democrats and Republicans only assimilate the views of their respective parties, they grow more distant from one another, making any kind of compromise between then much more difficult. An influx of new and diverse ideas is integral to a healthy political system and while social networking can potentially aid people in achieving this gathering of new ideas, it can also limit it.
While it has been shown that the threat of online sexual predators has been exaggerated by the media, it is still a threat not to be ignored. With increasingly more young children using the Internet, effort must be made to protect these especially vulnerable users. Perhaps further studies are needed, but one Justice Department study showed that the threat of online predators is not as present as it seems to be. Online bullying, however, has been the source of much more controversy, and maybe with due cause. Thirteen-year-old Ryan Halligan is just one example of a suicide provoked by online bullies. If gone unchecked, the danger of countless more such cases may present themselves.
The way students are taught must be reassessed because of the ever-changing world of technology that today's younger generations grow up in. Some assert that the rapid progression of technology destroys the minds of the youth, but its advantages cannot be ignored, either. The Internet can facilitate students in research, but it can also be used to avoid the proper completion of assignments by allowing students to search for online book summaries, for instance, in order to evade the responsibility of actually reading the assigned text. No doubt the Internet is useful in gathering information, but the cost must be considered.
Is the Internet and its numerous social networking sites a curse or a blessing? No absolute answer can be given. It is simultaneously a tool of intellectual progress and a weapon for the evils in humanity. It is certain, however, that, thanks to the Internet, the world will never be what it once was.