Are social networking sites addictive?
In April 2009, Oprah Winfrey logged on to Twitter and sent her first “tweet,” taking online social networking out of the hands of the computer-savvy and into the living rooms of every American. These days it seems like everyone and their grandma has a Facebook page, Twitter account or LinkedIn profile. People are logging on every day, obsessively updating their profiles and checking the status updates of their online friends. It’s a fun way to pass the time and stay in touch, but can these sites be dangerous? Can you become addicted to social networking? Social networking is not a new concept. In fact, it’s been around as long as we have. A social network is simply the structure of relationships among individuals. Everyone on the planet is part of one big social network, but we also belong to smaller, more distinct subnetworks. We define these subnetworks by criteria like our families, friends, jobs, schools, hobbies and more. You have a social network at work. You have a social networ
