In response to: Courtney's Blog

I found this article very concise, and the question Courtney posed at the end of the article was a pertinent one: "whether or not social networking consumers will lose their habit once they age." As Jade points out, even though online networks can become addictive, they still offer a great means of dialogue between people in long distance relationships. I think another question people may ask is 'whether the dialogue itself leads to communication problems for future generations down the track?' As we know, the language used in chat-rooms and IM's of all kinds, as well as in Myspace and Facebook, are simplified, abbreviated and 'accessorised' with various icons that are convenient to the author and reader alike. I believe that this may translate into some potentially dangerous trends including how we come across in our place of work, by sending emails to colleagues with language structure that is not appropriate, leading some people to get the wrong message. It may cause people to become 'lazy' with their writing as well, by not checking mistakes or the way their writing sounds to a discerning reader, which may also lead to misunderstanding and the wrong interpretation.

Leading back to whether social networks are causing people to avoid physical contact with another person, i think this is quite a scary thought, and there are obviously many people that live their lives this way. But i also believe that if people develop enough social interaction in a virtual space, their natural social instincts will lead them to want to meet that person. Even better than this, by meeting people on Facebook, you may find yourself 'bumping into' some of your contacts around the place, particularly if you live in a small community. However, other cities with a much higher concentration of people like in parts of Asia, would find this way of social connection much more effective. As i consider it now, i am inclined to believe that social networking on virtual spaces is a greater idea than previously thought.