Kiesbye, Stefan, editor Are Social Networking Sites Harmful?

Kiesbye, Stefan, editor          Are Social Networking Sites Harmful?        

Cengage(Gale,Lucent,Kidhaven/Blackbirch 2011   93p     23.85  978-0-7377-5132-1            

ms/hs     At Issue (Cengage/Gale/Greenhaven)       VG-BN 

This At Issue volume presents a wide variety of opinions supporting various 

perspectives on social networking. Students will be able to draw on the extensive 

bibliography and resource listing

                 This book compiles a wide variety of opinions on various aspects of

social networking. The individual articles are short, concise and to the point

noted in the chapter title. I found the topics well chosen and effectively answered in clear definitive

terms that support the opinion.

     It has always been known that for every topic there is always another

opinion. Readers will find that many of these concerns are not new to the rise

of social networking on the internet. The internet and it╒s rise in popularity

has just facilitated the intricacies and problems. 

     On one hand adults stress that the internet is an addiction yet becoming

familiar with the tools it provides will make the student better prepared for

future employment. Others will state that the internet provides addiction and

dependency thus stunting the young adults social development  in real life. (Are

we forgetting the gameboy addiction of the 90╒s.) Other chapters stress that the

internet is destroying our youths attention span. (I wonder if they have

forgotten Sesame Street that provided educators with the instant replay

generation in schools.) Other chapter mention bullying, sexual predators, and

online sites for teens.

     This is a thought provoking assemblage of topics that will help teens with

research. But one must remember that parents are still the one responsible for

working with their kids to help them develop good online skills stressing that

they are not forced to enter any personal data on a web site.    This book is one

in the  _At Issues series.  The series consists of __15_ books at this time. The

general theme of the series is __current social issues ____.            McNeil, Linda