IntroductionInternet: useful or harmful for social interaction? Tonight our main topic is interaction through social media websites via the Internet. People can instantly connect with other individuals through SMS, messages, and social networking sites on the Internet. The question, however, is: are these instant connections helpful or harmful to social interaction. Some say yes and some say no. These connections can help people connect all over the world, the resources available to people on the Internet are numerous, and someone can connect with people they might otherwise never have, thanks to the Internet. However, with these connections, misunderstandings can occur, misreading an email or misunderstanding cultural differences can be quite easy without a physical person in front of you to pick up physical cues from (Baron and Branscombe, 2012). The question still remains: do these instant connections help communication between people? Explanation With so much Internet use these days, are people actually connecting on an organic level? Is it possible to create lasting relationships using the Internet, whether it is a friendship or a romantic relationship? What are the problems that occur when communicating only through cyberspace? These are some of the questions I asked while researching this topic. It seems that there are both pros and cons to communicating through the Internet. Some think that communicating on the Internet improves relationships with others. However, there are those who believe that communication through cyberspace is not useful for improving their relationships with others. There are legitimate factors that contribute to both arguments. Let's look at... middle of the paper... Franz, & Schutz, Astrid. (2006). Personality in cyberspace: Personal websites as media for personality expressions and impressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(6), 1014-1031.McKenna, Katelyn Y.A., & Bargh, John A. (2000). Plan 9 from cyberspace: The implications of the Internet for personality and social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(1), 57-75.ProCon.org. (2013, October 15). Social networking ProCon.org. Retrieved from http://socialnetworking.procon.org/Turkle, Sherry. (1999). Looking towards cyberspace: Beyond entrenched sociology. Contemporary Sociology, 28(6), 643-648. Yu, Sen-Chi and Chou, Chien. (2009). Is there authentic happiness in cyberspace? Implications for understanding and guiding college students' attitudes and behaviors on the Internet. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(6), 1135-1138.