Thursday, December 1, 2011

How Many Hours Are Spent On Social Networking Sites?




Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Tumblr have been only some of many popular sites visited by teens and young adults across the world. Many people may spend hours checking and messaging their networking sites, either for business reasons, personal reasons or just being hit with boredom. It isn't a "bad" thing to constantly check a website, but should there be a limit to how long you spend on a certain website? Many parents these days worry that their children will get into trouble buy being on these sites so frequently. There may or may not be something to worry about, but being on a certain website may cause suspicion from a parent. According to a study published at the end of January 2010, Nielsen observed the online social activity of consumers around the world and discovered a 82% increase in time spent on social networking sites in December 2009. Its almost scary to know the truth behind an addict. Some people may claim that they aren't "addicted" to checking their website of choice, but what really makes you an addict? A women named Julie admits to having a slight addiction to Facebook. She says that she spends close to 20 hours a week on Facebook. Julie says that she has tried to cut back from Facebook but has failed. "I can go a whole day without Facebook," she said. "But I've never made it through an entire weekend." Although there are no statistics on "Facebook addiction", it isn't an actual medical diagnosis therapists say they're seeing more and more people like Julie who've crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction. Some are not only addicted to Facebook, but to Twitter as well. Twitter is like a drug, in many ways: it gives your brain a short term thrill that you look for over and over again. It alters your behavior as you seek the pleasure hits a re-tweet gives you. And it sometimes negatively impacts other areas of your life. I have personally taken a survey of how long people spend on Social Networking site, and these are only some of few responses that I got back. True popular web sites such as Facebook and Twitter are entertaining, and not only that but they as well can be addicting, and time wasting. Some of us young ones have to really watch out how we value our time. 

Here are some responses that people have given me:

1. 25min.
2. 1hour 15min.
3. 2hours
4. 1hour
5. 3ours
6. 2hours
7. 2hours
8. 3hours
9. 5hours
10. 1hour
11. 1hour
12. 1hour
13. 45minutes
14. 1hour
15. 1hour
16. 1our
17. 1 hour
18. 5hours
19. 1hour
20. 1 hour, 45 minutes.