Many of us have become well ‘addicted’ to network sharing websites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo but now questions have emerged about the harmful aspects of these websites. Just recently a study conducted in a school in Bahrain has shown that teenagers between the ages of 14-18 spend up to 3 hours a day on networking websites!! That is a whopping 1/8 of our day updating profiles, changing display pictures and commenting on our friends blogs. But aside from this networking websites are being used for truly malicious purposes- many teenagers have been bullied and harassed through their blogs and ‘I hate so and so’ groups.

This doesn’t mean that these sites have no benefits. I am the first to admit that Facebook has been the reason I am now in touch with old friends and its great being able to see everyone’s photos and sharing your own. However, I think the solution lies in balance! If you let networking websites take over your life or abuse them to hurt people then they do more harm than good, but if you let your Facebook be nothing more than a guilty pleasure you spend 10 minutes on just to keep in touch then you should be fine!

By Karim