IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN THE CHANGING MINDSET OF YOUTH ON SOCIAL ISSUES - A STUDY OF DELHI-NCR YOUTH
Madhur Raj Jain, Palak Gupta, Nitika Anand · Researchers World – Journal of Arts Science & Commerce · 2012
ABSTRACTIn today's fast moving world, everyone tries to be ahead of their competitors, friends and social circle. Considering the fact, there are so many burning issues around us which we need to think upon and act, it's an alarm for us to be aware about the society and its issues. Current issues like violation of human rights, girl's education, adverse effects of global warming, wrong deeds of political leaders, crime against women, corruption etc. need to be discussed openly with the society in an effort to do something about it and bring a revolution.Social Networking sites provide a platform for discussion on such issues as it is this media which majority mass rely on and extend warm support. One such burning issue that has been overlooked in today's scenario is the impact of social networking sites in the changing mind-set of the youth. Our research is conducted on youths between age group of 18-30 years with a view to know the level of awareness on the social issues and how far social networking sites awakened the today's youth in expressing their views on current and burning issues like corruption, human rights, girl education etc. Study was conducted on 100 people mostly through email or sending link of questionnaire on various social sites.Keywords: Social networking Sites, Corruption, ANOVA, social issues, Anna Hazare.INTRODUCTION:IMPORTANCE OF A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE:Social network sites are web-based services allowing individuals to construct a semi-public or public profile in a bounded system as well as to articulate a list of others so as to share connections, views and thoughts. However the type, classification and nature of these connections may differ from site to site.Uniqueness of social networking sites not only allows individuals to meet strangers but enables users to discuss and make visible their social networks. This results into connections between individuals which otherwise is not possible through any other media already existing. Maximum of the time social networking sites are used to communicate with people who are already their friends or acquaintances in the social network sharing same mindset or same interests and views. Discussions on debatable topics, news articles are most common topics on these SNNs. There are a number of SNS's available now-a-days wherein users are increasing leaps and bounds as shown in the table below-Social networking sites are not only popular for providing a platform for chatting, sharing scraps, videos, pictures etc. but also for discussing social issues. However, certain issues yet require study and research like impact of SNS on youth's minds and loss of privacy as earlier people believed in keeping their data private but now they enjoy going public and showing wall posts, status updates, tweets and infact every thrill of their lives. In this way, we are ourselves breaching our privacy and personal space at the compromise of publicizing intimate details so as to attract hundreds of online readers and even strangers.There is a pool of social problems which requires attention of majority so that we can fight against them as a united country and make the society more peaceful. Social awareness brings more matureness, unity and thoughtfulness when it comes to making important decisions for them or for society.When these social networking sites started, youths got immediately attracted towards them as they found it very convenient to expand their social circle, chat with other fellow teenagers, share their personal photos and see others data too without any security alert. Infact now there is a sort of competition among the youths to pose themselves as most favorite and renowned person on internet. The actual competition is to get the coveted title of the king/queen of the virtual world, which is sure to have a profound impact of the psyche of an entire generation. So, the effort, time and focus we spend on creating our position, popularity rate and brand on these social networking sites is a standing testimony to the awakening of the narcissist in us. …