Wei Tang and Wood share two contrasting opinions about social networking. Although Wei Tang believes that social networking is a distraction and Wood believes that it promotes learning, they both agree that social networking sites allow people to connect with others that they normally wouldn't connect with. Wei Tang sees this as a distraction, but I disagree. Social networking sites have the ability to connect us with larger, more diverse groups of people. This helps us to grow socially into more well-rounded people and exposes us to more diverse intellectual opinions.
Another similarity in the two opposing arguments is the fact that they only discuss college students as the users of social networking sites. For Wood, this is understandable since she discusses the benefits social networking has in higher learning. However, Wei Tang's argument would be stronger if she discussed the cons that these sites posed for other groups of people, because users of sites like Facebook are increasingly diversifying. Kids are starting to get Facebooks at younger and younger ages, and increasing amounts of parents and teachers are getting accounts to stay connected with their kids and students. In my opinion, the ability that social networking sites have to keep people connected (like relatives, for example) far outweighs the negatives of the sites.
Very insightful post! It was especially good that you also expressed your own opinion and incorportaed well while discussing Tang's and Wood's argument. Also, before reading your post, I didn't thought of the fact that both of the authors only focus on the college students. I definitely agree that Tang's opinion could have been much stronger if she included influence of social networking sites on generations other than college students.
ReplyDeleteReading this article offered something that I didn't see in many others, which was your own opinion. I think it was good that you included this in your post because it offers another perspective on the situation, while everyone else only discusses the two perspectives of the authors. Your similarity that you found is also unique in the sense that not that many other people found it. When I wrote my response I didn't think at all of noticing the similarity that they only talk about college students.
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