Social Networking has only been around for about 10 years but it has already had very real and profound effects on society. One of the positive effects that it has had on society is the political upheaval that it has help bring. In 2010, a political movement began in the Middle East which has come to be known as the Arab Spring. Many protests were held and some countries were even able to overthrow their governments. None of this would have been possible without social networking, as it provided a free way for people to come together and arrange these protests.
While it can be good, social networking also has it's downsides. According to procon.org, social networking sites can lead to more stress and relationship problems offline. I can think of multiple reasons as to why this would be true. The first reason being that people's lives can be taken over by social media. Some people spend hours a day on these sites which undoubtedly fractures real life relationships. Another reason is that attention can be too easy to achieve on social media. If a romantic relationship isn't going well, you're just a couple of clicks away from connecting with someone who can give you positive attention. This wasn't the case before social media came along and it can make relationships much harder to attain.
