sociology discussion board
“Today, with recent advances in Technology, people can maintain their social networks electronically; they don’t need face-to-face contacts (Schaefer, 2012,119).” For myself personally, social networking has been an important part of my life for this past year. My Husband is in the United States Coast Guard, so his job requires us to relocate to different stations mainly across the United States. Relocating is always a big adjustment, because not only are you in a new environment that you know almost nothing about, but you also have to leave your family and friends behind. “Whether through text-messaging, handheld devices, or social networking sites like Facebook, a significant amount of networking occurs online (Schaefer, 2012,119).” Without Social Networking sites like Facebook, it would make the relocating even harder, because having Facebook we are able to keep up with the lives of our family and friends-and vice versa-even though we are hundreds of miles away and rarely get to see them. “Virtual networks also can help to preserve real-world networks interrupted by war and other dislocations (Schaefer, 2012,120).” My husband being in the U.S. Coast Guard goes on two-month deployments out at sea, where there is no cell phone service, and the only way of communicating for that entire time is through e-mail. “Today, digital photos and sound flies accompany e-mail message between soldiers and their families and friends (Schaefer, 2012,120).” Without email, it would make those two months of him being gone almost impossible to deal with, because we are able to send pictures back and forth. Even more importantly, it helps ease the anxiety of him being in harms way, because every time I receive an email I know he is still alive. This month of September is especially hard for me, because my husband is on a deployment now. He is missing my birthday, and even more importantly he is missing our 1st year wedding anniversary. Not being able to share special days like