ARE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES TAKING UP TOO MUCH OF OUR TIME?

After asking a range of teenagers how much time they spend on an online social networking site such as facebook or twitter, the overall average was up to 5 hours on a weekday with some results varying both above and below this value.

Most of the people that I interviewed explained that their high usage was due to the fact that they were able to access the website via their phones or their own personal laptops.

iPhones, blackberry and htc smartphones are most common and provide teenagers with an easy way to access their accounts on the go. When speaking to a blackberry owner I realised that her phone was constantly flashing with notifications, she later explained that even she felt that she spent too much time on it yet when her phone is constantly flashing, it's hard to ignore.

'Facebook isn't even interesting anymore, it's just something to do,' Rosi Yip, 15.

75% of those I surveyed admitted that they do little exercise other than the short walk to and from school as well as physical education once a week. A small amount do take part in some form of productive activity whether it is jogging, walking the dog or dancing regularly. These statistics imply that much more of our time is wasted procrastinating online rather than putting it to good use.

It seems that as technology is becoming more and more advanced we are constantly finding new ways of communicating and we are only becoming lazier in doing so, as we no longer have to make any effort to stay in contact with anybody.

Each week an average teenager spends 5 hours a day online, that’s 35 hours = 2,100 minutes = 126,000 seconds of our time every week.

Are smartphones really as useful as they may seem? Are social networking sites encouraging us to become unhealthy?

After investigating into this I was left wondering what social networking sites are actually achieving if they are only encouraging us to put off work and become lazier.