Technology, social networking offer benefits and drawbacks

As the first week of the spring semester has come to an end and the self-introductions and syllabi reviews have passed, I noticed despite what course it may be, the main focus seems to be greatly placed on the usage of the internet and how technology is changing everything we do (not that this is new information).

Reading these syllabi and listening to the first week of class lectures, I thought of how inclined our generation is to technology and I came to realize that all this knowledge we possess of the internet and social networking is not that beneficial.

There was a time when I would browse internship opportunities and see the criteria state, "knowledge of social networking a plus." I checked off in my mind that I obviously had that skill down, but then realized, well so do most people my age who are probably viewing these same listings. Although, understanding how to use sites like facebook, Twitter, etc., can be useful, I doubt that such skills are going to leave us one up on the competition.

The endless space the web holds seems to be thinning out many of our future careers. Many jobs today are diminishing thanks, or not so thankfully, to electronics and technology, and I wonder if there is a line to be drawn on taking technology too far.

An article on Forbes.com, titled "Will a machine replace you?," discussed many companies and careers that are turning to technology instead of humans. The article mentioned services ranging from EZPass and Netflix to military robots. We are also seeing the market for print books, newspapers, and magazines dwindling because of e-readers and tablets.

Even if our future career is not being replaced by a machine, it also to be said that being savvy with social networking is not always a plus, it has been said countless times that your facebook tagged photos or your profane tweet can cost you a job. As a generation immersed in technology and the internet it seems a lot of us are just addicted. Whether we rid ourselves of the addiction completely is not as important as figuring out where we go from here or more importantly what will be available for us after graduation.

Nicole Bitette is a junior journalism major from Woodbrige, NJ. She can be reached at nicole.bitette@student.shu.edu.