Jergenson: How People Live In Every Form Of Social Media

In present day society, individuals dedicate their time to social media on the internet and electronics, towards updating statuses, rebloging pictures, favoriting videos, reading up on current events, and staying connected in general. It’s only been 25 years since Tim Burners-Lee invented the world wide web and it’s no secret that it is one of the most progressive and influential invention of our time. Dave Eggers, in his current book The Circle, foretells his version of what can happen with the growth of technology and social media and pushes our current standard of being virtually connected from the main social networks Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Tumblr. In

Technology has helped connect people and created friendships that without technology couldn’t happen. A big way for people to connect with each other is by using social media like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. Facebook connects more of us to more of our friends and family than we have ever been connected before (Document 2). Every "Like, every Share, every comment is a way for us to renew on a tiny scale our connections with our friends (Document 2). Our phones are devices that can connect us to anyone around the world in the matter of seconds (Document 5). Technology is not only connecting us with other people it is also connecting us to more information.

In Sherman Alexie’s poem “The Facebook Sonnet” Alexie brings up a controversy, over all social media because it absorbs society into the depths of dark unknowns and prevents physical face to face communication. Even though Facebook allows people to stay up to date with friends, whether they be new or deep-rooted, the platform tears its users away from substantial social interaction with others. People can connect to the world by the click of the mouse and know what is going on at any given time. Social media requires ones everlasting attention, and the addiction is almost comparable to that of a cigarette, one cannot give it up and is always thinking about when one can check it again. People become so caught up in trying to perceive what everyone else is doing, they forget that they have a reality to live and fail to maintain real relationships. “The Facebook Sonnet” belittles the social media platform by emphasizing how obsessed society is with making themselves look perfect for the screen. One is either gripping to their past or obsessing over the present.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, what do they mutually have in common? They are all social media websites. Social Media has become the number one way to communicate with other people from around the world. It has been beneficial and helpful to many, on the contrary harmful to some. People use social networks to catch up with a childhood friend, endorse their business, or develop news faster. Other people use it to steal identities, cyberbully, and abuse others. It has stated that social media’s are “websites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts” (“social media.”) With this in mind, how has social media influenced

Social media is a revolution that has taken the world by storm. So many times we miss out on important happenings due to a strayed second from online. Whether it is homework a teacher has posted on MyCourses or the latest breaking news released on twitter, without constant eyes on the internet, we are bound to be left behind and disconnected. The topic of being connected is dissected by Lucy Marcus’s article, “What It Means To Be ‘Connected’” and Steven Krause’s article “Living Within Social Networks.” These articles both dive into the question of what it truly means to be connected with the outside world and the online world. Marcus believes that now is an important time to be connected more than ever on both social media and real life (124). In contrast, Krause asks the readers whether internet connection is ultimately making them lonely and

It is evident of the great impact digital technology- electronic telegraph has within present society. Persons both young and old have become consumed, or even attached to their devices. In the article, “are you over ‘connected’?” Chatfield reiterated this observation which was supported with exerts from an ongoing series called ‘Somewhere Else’ by Josh Pulman, a photographer who captures the daily lives of person within this generation of digital technology. Chatfield (2015) claimed that, “To be human is to crave connection.” (para.4); yet, he questioned whether we are over-connected and how it would impact the future. With the assistance of Pulman’s images, Chatfield pointed out how the transformation of the telephone has affected society

In the mid-1400’s, people collected novels and spent hours reading in their libraries (Unwin). The same effect occurred with the printing of the newspaper in the late 1600’s (Breig), and again with the development of stationary and portable gaming systems in the mid-1900’s (Kudler). Causes of social issues change with each generation. Therefore, it is imperative to understand that future generations will be brought up in a different world than the last had. With each new generation, there will be new technology, different issues, and dissimilar methods of upbringing, however none of this is should be viewed negatively; this change throughout time indicates progression of society towards sophistication and worldliness. Although it may appear as though the youngest generation is excessively reliant on technology, they and future generations will learn to use technology in moderation as past generations have. Moreover, it is ironic to blame technology for the lack of social interaction in this day and age when social media is such a popular concept; particularly, when social media is in the form of an app and can be accessed at any moment from a smart phone. Countless individuals are able to communicate with friends with whom they haven’t spoken to in five or more

“Hey, are you taking a picture, make sure you tag me in that.” “Oh did you see my last post last night?” We are the social media (SM) using generation. SM dictates our friendships; it never leaves our side, in the form of smartphones, text messaging or video calling. Before SM became the first real avenue, in which people express themselves, people had to resort to face-to-face communication. Face-to-face communication is considered to be the traditional way of human interaction, but with the creation of SM in the World Wide Web, SM instantaneously throws your ideas out there for the entire world. According to SM journalist, Emma Stein, SM dependence could be considered a mental issue, since it is becoming part of our everyday life.

In today’s society it is a rare occurrence to see someone not on their cellphone or plugged into some electronic device. People’s way of communicating have greatly changed in just the past ten years, with the advancements in technology. Sherry Turkle’s essay “The Flight from Conversation” analyses the relationships people have with their devices and the repercussions of the growing use of these devices on the way people connect with one another. Social media and texting have a substantial role in people’s lives but the results are harmful to relationships, safety, and privacy. Sherry Turkle born 1948 in Brooklyn, New York, she earned her Ph.D. from Harvard in personality psychology and sociology.

The focus of Byrne’s (2017) magazine article is how technology has influenced changes in social interaction with how much more isolated we have become because of it along with how technology may conflict with individual behavior in general. This article was written to inform readers interested in how our day-to-day use of apps and social media affects our behavior. Byrne shows this by giving examples of this through things like automated checkouts, social media, online ordering and home delivery, as well as others such as driverless cars (Byrne, 2017, p. 8-10). He also cites evidence from studies done by social sciences that show how extended amounts of time using social media can result in unhappiness and a reduced amount of time spent face-to-face.

Social media has gained immense popularity, following increased access to the internet and technology devices including smart phones. Social media is used to denote platforms in which people build and share social connections; thus enhancing information sharing and interaction. Major examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Through social media, people can connect, interact and exchange information such as pictures, videos and other digital media by registering as users in these platforms and updating information affecting their lives on their profiles. When social media applications came into existence, these were mostly used for interacting and sharing with friends, relations and new friends acquired through these platforms. Social media has however been constantly abused, as people turn it into a ground to vent, lie, insult, bully or threaten others. The social networks no longer serve their intended purpose in the society and users have taken advantage of the free space to say whatever they want with no regard to how it affects others. People have used such domains to brandish their selfish acts and gains.

Social media has become prominent parts of life for many young people today. Most people engage with social media without stopping to think what the effects are on our lives, whether positive or negative. Are we as a society becoming more concerned with Facebook "friends" than we are with the people we interact with face-to-face in our daily lives? What will the longterm effects of today 's social media use be? There are many positive aspects, but there are equally as many dangers that come with the use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, Tumblr, Instagram, gaming sites, and blogs. Social media has both negative and positive effects on society, it is up to the user to decide what impact they want to make. In order to make the right choices, we must dig in and research this topic thoroughly.

As Turkle (2012) suggests, there is a contradiction between connection and disconnection that technology imposes on users. To be tethered is to be connected, but the connection is beyond time and space, meaning being physically absent, but emotionally present. Likewise, Turkle (2012) argues that it is odd that individuals participate in the collective activity while being somewhere else. Similarly, the self is invisible, and the ways in which the self can develop and form are physically absent. Technology allows for a greater sense of control over one’s conversation and interactions, yet, the control is illusive. The relationship is contradictive, meaning as technology allows for a greater sense of control, but also becomes a source of obligation. Therefore, Turkle (2012) suggests that web technology creates an overload of information, which is troublesome because we are constantly surrounded my information, and we do not know how to piece information together or make sense of it. The instantaneous clicking of a button does not allow an individual to analyze an issue. Thus, an instant response undermines our ability to think critically.

Most of us use social media to communicate with our family, friends and our loved once. Since almost all of my friends live 8000 mile away, I use Facebook, Instagram, and viber to keep in touch with them. Bur recently I started noticing it has become more than a means of communication. I start posting a picture and obsesses about how many likes I get, checking other peoples Facebook just to see if they have more friends than me, believing every post without questioning if it’s a fact and funny enough I start sending friend request for people I don’t even know. Christine Rosen, a senior editor of the New Atlantis and resident fellow at the Ethics and Public policy Center in Wessington, D.C. on “In the Beginning Was the World”, she wrote how technology is affecting the society’s critical reading ability. Peggy Orenstein, an author and a contributing writer for the New York Times, on “I Tweet, Therefore I Am” she talks about how social media is distracting as from fully live in the moment. Even though the development of technology have increased the quality of life, it also brought undeniable challenges to our society. The constant use of social media and internet has increase society attention-seeking, Distracted, and decries critical reading. The use of social media has increased dramatically throughout the years.

Just as capitalism requires the continued search for efficiencies, our interactions with technology must also become as efficient as possible. This shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy has led to the creation of the information worker. These information workers are defined as a social group who rely heavily on computer use, which according to Geert Lovink (2011), is a result of our economy viewing “computer use as an empowering activity resulting in more skills and increased social mobility” (p. 35). The capitalist mode of production casts the computer illiterate as unprofitable. Google, Twitter, and Facebook, which lead this knowledge economy, persuade their audiences to stay connected, and to participate in virtual worlds in an effort generate endless amounts of data, which this economy treats as currency. Those who do not participate are alienated, which reinforces the need to be constantly connected.