Should We Shut Down Your Screen Research Paper

The truth is if social media was never invented we still may have found other ways to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. As we spend less time focusing on what’s going on outside in the real world than we do scrolling down our Facebook feeds we separate ourselves. It’s become a part of our everyday routine and, most people check their Facebook before they even have breakfast in the morning. Social media definitely didn’t help, but it is not the sole cause of isolation but, how we use it. If we were to use it how it was intended by making new connections, we wouldn’t feel so separated from the rest of the world.

In the last ten to fifteen years accompanying the dawn of social media, means of communication among friends and strangers have been easier than ever. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has grown into the largest social media site on the Internet with 30 million users and counting. The ability to catch up with former high school friends who are now across the country or see how an aunt in Pittsburgh has been doing since the birth of her son are now as simple as the click of a mouse. However, the amount of “friends” acquired on social media may not be an accurate reflection of how many close relationships one truly shares. In an article from Bigthink.com titled “Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?”, Steven Mazie gathers research from Pew Research Center about statistics surrounding Facebook

Humans are naturally social beings. Jeremy Rifkin states, “We are, it appears, the most social of animals and seek intimate participation and companionship with our fellows (115).” The article continues to explain how humans seem to connect through emotions and that inner, neurological need for human interaction. When one person feels pain, joy, or sadness, they want to share their feelings with another person. Hence, the needing fulfillment of social interaction. However, the use of social media does not mean humans have become less social. Even though social media has introduced a new way of interacting and communicating, studies have shown that people are becoming more

A prevalent issue regarding social media and interactions exists between researchers and social network users. Social media is currently changing how relationships between people are created. Relationships can exist through people across the world through social media and can produce more emotional bonds with friends that you can see everyday. On the other hand, social media also could present conflicts due to the fact that some of these relationships can become unhealthy and that people could change to be more dependent on internet friends, becoming introverted.

In “Social Media As a Community” by Keith Hampton, Mr. Hampton states “Neither living alone nor using social media is socially isolating. In 2011, I was lead author of an article in Information, Communication, & Society that found based on a representative survey of 2500 Americans, that regardless of whether the participants were married or single, those who used social media had more close confidants.”

One reason to participate in “shut your screen week”, is because the internet is making us stupid in certain ways. For example when students have book reports some may think that it is not important to read the book. Because they can go on google whenever they want and read the summary of the book. That allows student to use their brains less because reading the book helps you process information better. But when you just look up a summary you don’t learn as much, almost all books have

Scientists say that using email, texting, or searching the web can change how someone thinks or behaves. “The stimulation [of technology use] provokes excitement – a dopamine squirt – that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored,” says Matt Richtel of the New York Times. Addiction to technology may not compare to the addiction of certain drugs, but being a student who is addicted to something that creates different social interactions, and doesn’t allow deep thought, could be very bad. “In 2008, people consumed three times as much [technology] each day as they did in 1960,” Matt says. This rate has already increased, and a break from it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Researchers worry that constant digital stimulation like this creates attention problems for children with brains that are still developing, who already struggle to set priorities and resist impulses,” Matt says. Students in high school, or even in college, have brains that are still developing. A week off from the technology would allow these students to develop skills, with their growing brains, that could be used instead of electronics.

I encourage that our school will participate in the screen time shutdown week. Nicholas Carr says the following, “If we’re distracted, we understand less, remember less, and learn less.” It would be extremely beneficial to the students, and even the teachers, to shutdown. If we unplug we’re not distracted, we understand more, remember more, and learn more. Carr continues, “If you’re interested in developing your mind, you should turn off your computer and your cellphone-and start thinking.”

What is technology to you? For some people, it's a lifeline they can't go without it. If you were a gamer, how would you feel about not being able to play for a whole week? What about music junkies? Not being able to match a song to each of your feelings for a whole 168 hours. Possibilities are endless but participating in “Shut Down Your Screen Week” is not one of them. For instance, being plugged into social media allows you to look over and receive news, and look at the diversity of the world. Also, the internet contains so many astonishing materials. Although, screens provide us with many convenient things it is also addicting.

For us, the students, to be fully focused we need no distractions. And the biggest distraction we all have is our technology. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, it is explained that in order for us to give quality work we must be in a deep thinking state of mind. This only happens when our minds are calm and attentive. So what this shows is that we definitely need to take part in “Shut Down Your Screen Week”, because it will benefit us since we would be more focused on our school work and not on our

“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

According to Wallaces text, “ ‘they believe that social media helps their friendships, makes them feel more outgoing and gives them confidence,’” stated by common sense media’s director of digital media , this comes to show that one of the main purposes of social media, is making a drastic change in friendships, and that connecting and socializing online can help to make new friends and even connect with older ones, boosting the users' confidence and feel more outgoing and

How much time do you spend using technology? Shut down your screen week is when people agree not to use technology for a week. Shut down your screen week is a good idea because technology can be a distraction to many families that result in a loss in communication.

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.

Some of the top benefits of social media over the years are that it is free to anyone, the content can get out to resources virtually immediately, and it can be delivered to a wide variety of people. For these reasons, communication through social media has become an extremely accessible and convenient way to communicate. It is also popular for those who need to be in contact with others. One example that comes to mind is a teenager who goes away on a trip to visit a friend or family. They can be hundreds of miles away but still talk to their parents as if they weren’t. Another example is a person who is shy and has a hard time making friends face-to-face, social media sites are a great way to meet people and build relationships.