Analysis Of The Magazine Article: Making Friends Through The Internet

Social media and technology has improved the ability to stay connected with each other from far distances. In the article “Text or Talk: Is Technology Making You Lonely? By Margie Warrell” the author states “ online technology is a magnificent tool for staying in touch with people across miles time zones and years.” In

Before this generation we would immerse ourselves in relationships. Now, could you say that all your Facebook friends are your actual friends? Sometimes all we need is a hug from someone that we have a genuine relationship with. People wouldn’t be able to get that if they constantly use their phones to become “social” they will never amount to their true potential in relationships. Bryce Skylar a writer for People’s World says, “The problem, it appears, is that social media has infiltrated every aspect of daily life”. When you put down your phone, you will create an endless opportunity to gain organic relationships.

Humans are social creatures who need and want to communicate with one another, and technology helps fulfill that need. Although technology, specifically texting and social media, has risen question to whether technology is killing our friendships. Though many believe that technology is tearing our friendships apart, it is actually strengthening them and keeping us closer together than ever before. Through technology, people have the power to stay in touch with friends all over the world, create new friendships with people who share similar interests, and feel closer to the friends we already have.

The ease with which people are able to share and communicate over the Internet has had the effect that people no longer feel the need to interact in with one another in person because they feel that everything they want to do can be done over the Internet. An example can be seen in “Connectivity and its Discontents”, where we are introduced to Randy (Turkle 621). Randy’s younger sister was recently engaged to be married, something that most people would consider a significant event. She and her fiance decided to make the announcement to their family and friends via e-mail, something that made Randy feel very far away from his sister emotionally. Social media can also have the effect that constantly updating our information and giving second by second updates on the ordinary events of our daily

Although many argue that social media is an easier way to interact with others and that it has the ability to improve relationships by keeping those that are far apart together through technology, social media can also cause people to further distance themselves and it can also have a negative impact on relationships. There has been many studies that proves that technology harms our relationships and how one interacts with other in social situations. Many people use technology as a way to escape the real world. Even though social media can be used in a positive way, it can also be used negatively. Before technology was as developed as it is in today’s society, people had different realities; separation between work life and personal life.

In this article Rosen uses a plethora of examples and sources to make her argument/ideas credible. Rosen used one of Stanley Milgram’s studies to show how there were “six degrees of separation,” but now with social media people are connected by closer to three degrees of separation, according to Duncan J. Watts. Rosen uses the essay “The Strength of Weak Ties” by sociologist Mark Granovetter to strengthen her argument on how social media is mostly weak ties and not true real friendships. Also she uses a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that states “ more than half of all Americans between the ages of twelve and seventeen use some online social media coverage of social networking site.” Then Rosen goes on to say how there is a “nearly unbridgeable generational divide, with tech-savvy youngsters redefining friendship while their doddering elders look on with bafflement and increasing anxiety.” This survey helps Rosen’s argument that states how friendship is not the same anymore.

With time comes the constant change of technology, its advancements and our reactions over the refinement itself. In ‘ Distracted: The Erosion of Attention And The Coming Dark Age”, Jackson makes ungrounded statements concerning the negative effects of technology and the benefits it has acquired however Jackson accurately reveals the truth behind Jackson’s opinions on the effects of technology are one sided and very biased. A study by Edward Hallowell states that the way we are living our lives, controlled by balancing multiple task, is contributing to the attention deficit disorders (Jackson 149). As a result of our speedy generation, fast-acting systems and programs perfectly embody what is appropriate to our society at the time.

Is society being dehumanized by technology? Or are technological advancements bringing people closer together? In recent years, the growing use of technology has been impacting the way humans function and communicate in everyday life. Accelerating rates of social media usage questions the vast impact on society. Thus, emerging the argument of whether or not social media is playing the role of connecting the world together or tearing it apart and leaving individuals to feel a sense of loneliness.

The book talks about how internet can deepen friendships, using social media to become more aware of a friend’s day to day life. (Berger, 204, p. 551-552). Social media helps most friendships, I always loved seeing the pictures my friends would post while we were apart as it almost allowed me to be with them or sometimes my friends would post pictures of us together just to say they missed me. As my friends and I have graduated high school and entered college, we may not see eachother very much within a year. Social media is one thing that allows us to always keep in touch. We may not see eachother everyday like before but things like snapchat allow us to stay in touch. Technology really has been able to form and improve friendships. Along with keeping in touch, social media also helped me reconnect with friends Id lost contact with. My senior year of high school one of my friends from second grade reached out to me via social media. We met up one day and out friendship rekindled, I gained another valuable friendship because of social media. According to the book the fear of internet causing isolation is false, if anything internet users seem to have more friends than nonusers (Berger,

Technology abolishes human interaction with one another. Human interaction becomes less frequent as technology advances. Many people have access to technology. For instance, walk into a diner, or a fast food restaurant, and then discover a group of people at a table all on their electronic devices. People need to be more aware of how technology is affecting the relationships among people. People are going to lose their friendships because they failed to separate their cyber life from their social life.Melissa Nilles describes her experience as a nightmare that was actually reality. In the “nightmare,” she lost many opportunities because of being attached to her cellular device.

“There was a clear trend for those who used these technologies to receive for social support”, “Social Media As Community, Keith Hampton”. There are some students out there that don’t like to express their feelings face to face, so sometimes it is easier for them to do it over text. If we didn’t have access to technology then students wouldn’t be able to express their feelings the way they like, so the students may be moody and not want to do fun things. Hampton also states in “Social Media As Community” “The data backs it up. There is little evidence that social media is responsible for a tend of isolation, or a loss of intimacy and social support”. The internet isn’t the only thing that can isolate or make students have loss of social support, other things

The article “Social Media as Community” “We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Keith Hampton) Social media has created amazing apps that let us meet people that are exactly how we are ourselves. They have helped many students get relationships that they thought would never happen. “There is little evidence that social media is responsible for a trend of isolation, or a loss of intimacy and social support.” “Social Networking Sites and Our lives.” On the internet there is little evidence that social media has caused an isolation. The internet has made it where we can talk to people far from here that are just like us and usually people don’t lose friends that are exactly like

“Little by little, Internet and mobile technology seems to be subtly destroying the meaningfulness of interactions we have with others, disconnecting us from the world around us, and leading to an imminent sense of isolation in today’s society.” (Melissa Nilles “Technology is Destroying the Quality of Human Interaction”) Because of technology, the interactions with other people have no meaning, and that we are no longer in touch with the world that we live in. Since technology makes it easier to connect and converse with friends, family, etc. it gives people the opportunity to avoid face to face interaction at all, which leads to isolation and loneliness. This is because as human beings, physical touch is something that we

Aside from expediting relationships, there is the factor of getting to know someone for who they really are. In social networks, “the CliffsNotes of a person's life will never give you an accurate representation of the reality. We create the image that we want to convey through our activity on social media. It's much easier to convey the "reality" that we want to portray on the Internet than to live it in real life.” (Curry, 2013). People often put the best things about themselves on their social network; in fact many show the life they wish they had. This can be detrimental to relationships, because no one is ever transparent or honest. In considering relationships, “the truth is that the content and character of a person should be revealed in layers. The development of a fruitful relationship takes effort, and it is impossible to reach a level of depth with a person by meticulously parsing his Facebook self” (Curry, 2013). Real relationships and depth cannot be established when merely built online.

Social media causes isolation because it makes people not fully engage with others. Social media has made us become more interested in our phones and computers than the real world. Many people would be more interested to interact on social media rather than interacting with others in person. As Wency Leung points out in her essay Does Social Media Bring Us Closer- or Make Us Loners, “While we are connected, we are rarely fully engaged with those immediately around us” (687). As Leung points out, we are more engage to our devices than being fully engaged with the people around us. For example, we see this all over the place like in colleges, parks, and even in your own house. Most people would prefer to engage over the phone that to be engaged in a conversation with the person in front of them.