“Social networking”, these words spark immediate images and often have either a very positive connotation or in some cases, a very negative connotation. Either way, social networking is becoming part of everyone’s daily life. Social networking affects the youngest in society, to middle aged people, to the elderly, we all use social networking. While some might argue that social networking has disadvantages and hurts society, the multitude of benefits which come from social networking including, businesses drastically improving outputs, adolescents feeling more confident about themselves, students improving their learning, and doctors being able to better treat their patients, far outweigh any disadvantages and actually improve society for the betterment of everyone.

While many people see the benefits to social networking, there are still many others who argue social networking is harmful to society and that the disadvantages are why we should not use social media in our society. Their arguments for how social media negatively impacts society include people constantly being on their phones and not experiencing the world around them. Another argument people who do not support social networking try and claim is how kids and teens experience cyberbullying. While both of these may be true and these are concerning problems of our time they do not outweigh the benefits which have come from social networking. 

 One-way social networking is improving lives all over the world is by doctors being able to better communicate with other doctors and their patients. Doctors being able to communicate with other doctors is a new activity in the medical field but is having profound effects. When doctors communicate with other doctors on medical procedures and patient treatment options, the patients are the ones who benefit the most. Kamran Sattar, a professor at the King Saud University College of Medicine and an author of the Biomedical Research 2016 journal, writes “SNSs [social networking sites] are extensively used within the domains of medicine and allied health sciences to share information about professional problems and clinical experiences” (Sattar). The integration of social networking sites in the medical field has improved the quality of care for patients and has allowed doctors to become more educated on medical practices used throughout the world. This is able to happen because medical professionals are using secure social networking sites to discuss medical techniques and treatment options to better treat patients and their needs. When a survey was given to medical students at the King Saud University College of Medicine in Saudi Arabia the results proved how social networking is positively impacting the medical field. In the survey, students were asked if social networking sites help in the sharing of information in their profession and over 74% said “Yes, it did help”. Also in the survey, 83% of students answered how social networking sites improve the quality of health care (Sattar). Students and doctors alike, are redefining the healthcare field through their integration of social networking sites. With the sharing of ideas and medical practices, patients’ lives can be saved or at the least extended and extending one’s time on earth is something all citizens should support.

In the way that social networking is improving the medical field, the same effect is occurring in education. With access to social networking sites, students are able connect with others on material they do not understand, learn more through videos and educational sites and retain the information they are learning through visuals. In the same survey that was given to the medical students at King Saud University students answered that social networking sites were most useful in their ability to help students learn and understand the information (Sattar). These results also match the results found at the George Middle School in Portland Oregon when technology was implemented in their schools. In their results for the impact of social networking and technology in the class room that “grades went up by 50%, chronic absenteeism went down by 33%, and 20% of students school-wide voluntarily completed extra-credit assignments” (ProCon.org). The evidence is there, when social networking is a daily part of the student learning experience, students grades can improve and students are more likely to want to come to class when they have engaging assignments via technology and social networking. (include statistics from ProCon 18 and ProCon 20)

Educational purposes are not the only way social networking sites are improving students’ lives, they are also aiding in the development of teens. Social networking is empowering socially isolated teens connect with other teens, allows teens becoming more confident and encourages relationship building. 

Empowering women in business – women are benefiting from the integration on social networking sites in their companies. This is because the majority of social networking users are women and they use social networking to communicate with other female CEO’s (ProCon). When female CEO’s use social networking they are promoting their business and its services/products or they are talking with other women in business to share ideas and learn from each other. Some businesses have even had female CEO’s come speak in their businesses to show everyone that although business is a male dominated profession, women can still achieve all that a male can (ProCon.org). Another benfit to social networking in business is better team communication and collaboration. – peter cardon

Conclusion – while there may be some disadvantages to social networking which should be addressed the benefits which have come from social networking far outweigh these negatives and prove how society is a better place  ( with our students better educated, our doctors healing more patients, business producing more it is evident to see how social networking is improving all different facets of our society and making it a better place for all.)