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In reality some social networking sites have become a time-consuming and labor intensive placebo for real communication, for social skills and for the all important social interaction on a daily basis, face to face.
Rather than allowing people to stay in touch with one another, it has generated a new form of society unable to communicate in a meaningful and constructive manner.
Communicative skills, the use of body language and language itself have all suffered as a result, with many younger people constructing sentences according to the constricts of a single line - 140 characters - rather than exploring the full beauty of their spoken and written languages.
With the advent of social networking sites many people seem to have withdrawn themselves from their social circles.
They now have the ability to remain in touch through the Internet and, rather than enhancing social contact, tend to spend considerably more time checking to see who has written them a note, changed their status, or uploaded new - often taken from other websites - photographs to their albums.
Time previously devoted to the nuclear family is pushed to one side in order to be present for a more extended family who, to a great extent, are not personally known.
Whilst some networking sites actively promote themselves as a means to remain in touch with family and friends, the growing lists of acquaintances, often numbering many hundreds, belies this.
As a result many of the traditional social skills inherent in personal contact are waning in younger generations.
Conversations, body language, written and spoken communication are either lost completely, or subjected to a form of abbreviation which makes them unintelligible to outsiders.
The means of expression and thought, the ability to discuss a subject in depth and in real time have been replaced by the skills of skimming over facts and forming opinions, gaining experience through often one-sided and incomplete information and amid constant distractions from other Internet-based utilities.
The speed and connectivity of the Internet has resulted in people more prone to impatience, less likely to wait for someone to form a constructive opinion of their own, less likely to accept that another person may not be online at the moment their message is sent.
In addition to the change in accepted social manners, there has been a marked increase in the level and ferocity of harassment or cyberbullying.
With social network administrators unable, or unwilling, to react quickly and effectively to complaints - Facebook, for example, clearly states that a complaint may not necessarily result in any action being taken - many feel freed from the normal, acceptable social standards instilled from birth and through a sound education.
Sexual harassment is rife in many social networks, with the ability to create an anonymous or false identity, unchecked through any of the normal channels expected in a real life situation, which can be thrown off at any time and replaced with a new identity.
What would be considered unacceptable in a school or workplace environment has become normal across some social networks, and is often beyond the reach of law enforcement.
For younger women this new-found freedom from accepted social standards has brought with it the danger of cyberstalking, partially aided by a lack of commonsense on their own part and a lack of understanding of what information can safely be published and what should be held back.
The problems are not limited to women: many prominent personalities have discovered that their names are being bandied about and coupled with the wildest stories, from infidelity through to criminality; many politicians discover that a few words spoken in confidence achieve a wide audience and, taken out of context or coupled with disinformation from other sources, have been spread across the Internet.
The gay community and many ethnic minorities are also not immune from such attacks.
In short, social networks have become a breeding ground for the loss of social skills, for the expansion of prejudices and for the realization of bizarre sexual and social fantasies.
They do not enhance societal feeling and play little or no part in the construction of healthy working communities.
Their membership is largely unchecked and uncontrolled and lacking in the most basic of enforceable safeguards.
Misunderstood by older generations, their influence is likely to increase as the younger users of today become the parents and educators of tomorrow.
Whilst not boding the end of an orderly, civilized society as we know and accept it, social networking will bring many uncomfortable changes to our everyday life, to our interactions with other people and to our ability to communicate effectively and without misunderstanding over the coming years.
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