Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

In his article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” Stephen Marche argues that Facebook is the vital cause for loneliness and is luring people away from social capital. According to Marche, social networking isolates individuals and creates distance, mostly amongst family members. For some, it is not only isolation but rather social loneliness. The author claims that health can also be effected by loneliness. Nowadays, due to very little verbal person to person communication, he writes that people have never been so separated from one another because of social media. Facebook users, Marche argues, have an addiction to profoundly visit their account constantly leading to the feeling of loneliness and in most cases depression. The author claims that social networking, instead of demolishing isolation, is unknowingly spreading it. Ultimately, However, Stephen’s argument fails to convince due to his abundant false assumptions and the articles confusing organization.

Social media, like Facebook and Twitter seems to be growing popular worldwide in the last few years. Have you found yourself or someone else in an awkward situation and instantly pull out your phone to scrawl through Facebook or Twitter just to keep from talking to someone in the elevator or doctor’s office? Is social media like Facebook and Twitter making us lonely human beings? One man, Stephen Marche, wrote “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” published in May of 2012 issue in The Atlantic thinks that social media might play a role in it alongside with other things.

In Stephen Marche’s article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” points out many reasons to which social media is making us lonely. One reason why social media is making us lonely is because we are so focused on the internet and we forget what is going on around us. Another reason is because we can see how our friends on Facebook are having a great life and we become lonely because our life is not as interesting as theirs. Even though I disagree with the author’s conclusion that social media is making us lonely, there is ample evidence to support my belief that the internet can also be a tool for communication.

In an argumentative essay, the author can write about the topic he or she is most interested in to try to persuade people to be on his or her side. Authors can use any of the many written strategies that exist to make his or her essay credible to the audience. Some authors use more than one rhetorical tool in their essays, while others keep their essays simple. It really does not matter how many rhetorical tools an author uses; all that it matters is how the author uses them to accomplish his or her goal of persuading the audience. For instance, in “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche, the purpose is to aware his audience from The Atlantic, magazine where it was first published, that technology and social media such as Facebook are making people lonely. Marche’s audience in this case is people with a high level of education most likely with a profession, and therefore, with high income. His median age audience for printed copies is 53 years old, and his median age audience for people who prefer digital copies is 41 years old. The Atlantic’s audience is more males than females as in the printed and the digital copies. Most of the articles published in The Atlantic’s are topics of global politics, business and technology, health topics, and education for its audience is more into politics, businesses, and the American culture. The types of voices that Marche uses are sad and worried. For example, Marche says, “We meet fewer people. We gather less. And when we

In Stephen Marche’s article, Facebook is a reason people are becoming move lonely and standard. The relationship between technology and loneliness is strong. According to the article people who spend their time on devices and social network sights are finding themselves lacking in the ability to communicate in person. One effect that is brought up throughout the article is loneliness, in which is made the more often one drowns themselves in social media. Facebook in particular, is the

Laura Croasmun Mr. Barnes English 1301.2241 22 September 2016 A Response to Stephen Marche In Stephen Marche’s article “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” he makes the statement that, “we are living in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, and yet we have never been more accessible,” (601). Although it is indeed true that we are more accessible now than we have ever been before, there have been multiple developments in our past that were used previously to create solitude. Before we had mobile phones, tablets, and other devices that are transportable, we had literature, stereos, newspapers, and gaming systems, such as the Gameboy. Riders would use any of these products on the train or bus on their way to work, some to

Despite that, there are many people that decided to detach from social network and work to create a better outside world life, but we still have connections and distractions from the social media; “transfixed by the glare of a screen, hungering for response” (Marche, par 5). People are constantly waiting for a response and not only by the internet but by the world itself, and for that reason, we expect that Facebook could be an answer of all the things we need answer for because Facebook is made off the outside world. The only problem is that we do not know when will that happen, or if it would happen eventually, but we are wasting time waiting for something that is not accurate to happen and that does not benefit us or help us find an answer to the things that we are looking for. Marche allude that “It’s a lonely business, wandering the labyrinths of our friend’s and pseudo-friends’ projected identities, trying to figure out what part of ourselves we ought to project, who will listen, and what they will hear” (Marche, par 22). That is the moment when loneliness comes, in the time that we wait for a response and we do not find one, either because no one pays attention to us or either there is not an answer that could be found in the social network.

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

In this day and age where people can be friends with anyone despite their location, we ask ourselves, are those connections actually strong? In “Is Facebook Making us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche, the idea that Facebook helps people isolate themselves is presented. Marches tries to prove it through his use of persuasive techniques and his own believes.

The article that was read was the “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” by Stephen Marche. I read it twice to compare and contrast my ways of reading to the stages of reading and the results were pretty similar. With the previewing, to the skimming, to a little of the careful reading, both techniques were very easy to use effectively. There were many things that I liked more about one technique than the other and vice versa. All in all, either technique can work for me for very good reasons.

It is clear that modern-day technology has taken over our lives. In the recent years there have been many social networking sites springing up as well as new devices to view them in. In an article titled, “Are Social Networks Messing with Your Head?”, David DiSalvo explains how social networking has affected the minds of many as of the time that the article was written in 2010. Disalvo explains the current age group of users, the loneliness that is associated with social network using, and the narcism that arrises.

In today’s world where technology is at its peak. However, there was a time when things were getting evolved and websites were created to connect people with each other, and make them socialize. Facebook created with intend of connecting to people which it became successful, but not successful. Libby Copeland’s essay addresses some key factors on how Facebook makes us sad, according to the research and some expert testimony.

At first, I agreed with Stephen Marche, author of “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?”, but after doing some of my own research I would like to retract my original position. We cannot blame technology for our own human condition. However Stephen Marche begs to differ. “At the forefront of all this unexpectedly lonely interactivity is Facebook, with 845 million users and $3.7 billion in revenue last year” (Marche). Stephen Marche believes Facebook is making us lonely because it is changing the dynamics of traditional friendships (Marche). He also blames Facebook for the rise in human isolation. From 1950 to 2010 a 17 percent increase in households of one were reported (Marche). Does Marche not realize that many happy Americans

As technology progress, humans evolve to the advanced technology and enhance our lives via technology. We connect to our families, friends and others through social media such as Facebook. Social media takes up a huge part in our lives. Social media infest us with information that are relevant and irrelevant to us. Marry Marrow wrote, “It was Facebook that changed the face of e-communication; in fact, it was the first electronic social media” (para 1). She assumes that Facebook is playing a huge role in electronic communication. In the journalist Maria Konnikova, “How Facebook makes us unhappy?”, Konnikova divulges many aspects of people on social media through researching and experience, and finds how social makes us unhappy. I agree with Konnikova findings after reading her article. In addition, she concludes that if you are engaged, active, and creative you will not sorrowful on Social media, however if you are passively browsing and defuse to engage, you will be depressed.

In the age of information and technology, we are connected to our family, friends, and strangers in an instant through social media. As a result of being easily connected, we are becoming disconnected with each other socially and then disconnected to ourselves emotionally. We got so wrapped up in our Facebook wall that it increases our levels of narcissism. Stephen Marche blames this incline in loneliness to Facebook. Marche’s use of the life of Yvette Vickers, and of statistics, persuades the audience that Facebook is connecting us socially, but disconnecting us from ourselves.