According to Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Social Media and other modern communication technology is leading to the downfall of our civillization. In an interview published in the Telegraph (a UK newspaper), Archbishop Nichols says that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace put children at risk of committing suicide and leads them to “devalue” relationships. He also says that technologies like cellphones and texting results in people losing social skills, unable to effectively communicate in person or to read another person’s body language. In short, the Archbishop makes the case that Social Media is a dangerous thing, something that we should move fearfully away from. Allow me, with all do respect, to explain why the Archbishop is wrong.
Archbishop Nichols was prompted, in large part, to speak out about the dangers of social media after a young girl, Megan Gillan, took her life after being bullied on the social networking site Bebo. This tragedy, in his mind, proves his point that social networking sites are dangerous. Here is an excerpt from the Telegraph story…
The archbishop blamed social network sites for leaving children with impoverished friendships.
“Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I’m wary about it. It’s not rounded communication so it won’t build a rounded community,” he said.
“If we mean by community a genuine growing together and a mutual sharing in an interest that is of some significance then it needs more than Facebook.”
He warned that the sites are contributing to a trend for teenagers to put too much importance on the number of friends they have and that this can ultimately lead to suicide.
“Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships.
“They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they’re desolate.”
He couldn’t be more wrong, in my opinion. Social networking sites don’t make kids kill themselves. Had this girl been bullied in a public school, would the Archbishop be making an argument warning against the danger of public education? Had this girl been assaulted by a member of the Catholic clergy, would the Archbishop be warning people to run and hide from priests and nuns? Probably not. Bullies are a part of life. Dealing with bullies is something that almost all of us must deal with at some point or another. Sometimes it’s in school, sometimes it’s at work, and sometimes it’s online.
Don’t misunderstand me, I think what happened in the Megan Gillan case was horrible. However, if a 15 year old girl is willing to kill herself because of a bully on a social networking site, I would argue that this girl had bigger problems than a cyber-bully. Megan killed herself by overdosing on a bottle of painkillers. I’d say the pills had more to do with her death than Bebo did, but I don’t think that painkillers should be banned or villified. Had she killed herself because of breakup, I also wouldn’t place the blame on the institution of dating. And if she had thrown herself off of a bridge, I wouldn’t think to blame bridges, either. Something horrible went wrong with this girl’s life and it wasn’t a social networking site.
Social Media is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our society. It can add value to our lives, our work, and our culture. Or it could not. It depends, entirely, on how we use it. And, like it or not, the genie that is Social Media has already been let out of it’s bottle. We can’t push it back in, or uninvent it, or expect everyone to suddenly stop taking advantage of all the benefits that it offers. Like any technology, there will be roadbumps and learning curves, and, sadly, sometimes things will go wrong. Horribly wrong. And that’s not just true of technology. That’s true of life.
-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
Dan@laserburnmedia.com
Tags: bebo, Facebook, myspace, social media, social networking