Social Networking: Better or Worse Than the Real Thing?

How many people still call their friends to tell them to hang out with them outside in the park? Probably just one in ten of us would do that. Nowadays we would most likely use some form of social media such as Facebook, to contact our friends. The internet offers numerous ways for us to communicate that was not possible if it was just 100 years ago. We can easily communicate through instant messaging, video chatting, e-mail, video conferencing, and social sites. Instead of meeting up and talking face to face, we tend to use video chatting options instead, such as Google hangouts or Skype. Social networking is more convenient; enabling us to communicate and keep up with our friends' and relatives' everyday lives. However, is social networking really that beneficial? Is actually talking in person better than talking online? Future generations are going to be facing their laptop screens more than facing other people. Although social networking has it's perks, it may actually be detrimental.