Social Media And Technology Influence Us

My main problem that I possess when it comes to my phone dependency is how to fill my free time with efficient activities like reading, homework, or other things. When I went through school without using social media, I was much more attentive in class and I did not really miss the connection I had with my phone. I also discovered that I do not deal with the “fear of missing out” because in actuality I did not miss out on a single thing. Identifying this fact enabled me to understand that thinking I need my phone because something important could potentially arise is a complete lie that I feed to myself to give a “valid” excuse that I need to be connected to my phone at all times of the day. This challenge revealed to me how detrimental social media could become if I keep using it extensively. I have read several articles about how media are physically altering our brain in a bad way and leading to a lack of essential skills in people, mainly in the millennial generation. This made me question if new media has contributed to the rise of social anxiety in individuals or aided the downfall of literacy in America today. This project has truly opened my eyes with my personal media use and the potential risks that can spawn from abusing

Ever since technology began so prominent in the modern world, can anyone remember going outside for more than 30 minutes and not see a cell phone or computer? Probably not, as these pieces of technology have become so ingrained in people’s lives, no one wants to leave their home without still being connected. And there is no reason to, as friends, family, and strangers share the same sentiments. Unplugging from technology is not only a decision people don’t make for personal reasons, it simply isn’t conducive to a productive life, as many people’s work and social lives wouldn’t be the same, if exist at all, without being connected to other people or the internet with just a single touch.

Technology is constantly growing and thriving every day with a heavy impact on various people’s lives through its efficiency for daily tasks, communication, research, and other aspects of our lives. In an age of technological advancement, the extensive use of personal devices can lead to a heavy dependency on them, which causes negative side effects such as decreases in focus, productivity, and attention. According to Lenhart (2015), “92% of teens report going online daily — including 24% who say they go online “almost constantly.” Reasons such as these can enlighten certain people to take a well-warranted break from their tech such as their phones and computers. Even though it can be difficult to disconnect, my view on these “Digital Sabbaths” is that they can be very beneficial and give a more clear outlook on the digital society we all live in today.

Technology creates constant distractions and disrupts everyday life. In the modern day, it is evident that technology poses many distractions, disrupting engagement in life’s critical moments. Matt Richtel, author of, “Attached to technology and paying a price” states, “technology can cut on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life” (Ritchel). Technological distraction is something everybody is familiar with. Watching YouTube videos, scrolling through Instagram and going through Facebook feed isn’t new and it’s certainly not imposed either.

I am constantly on my phone almost every second of everyday; texting friends, scrolling through Instagram, tweeting, or sending ugly snapchats of myself. All behind a screen, I felt connected to my friends, my followers, and the world. However, I was actually slowly losing my grasp on reality as I indulged myself in the world of social medias. Reality hit when parents came to Wellness Committee with concerns about their children’s overwhelming use of technology. As the Director of the Wellness Committee, this issue became my focus because I realized that constantly being on technology was unhealthy. It was also affecting the connections I made with people in real life; I was always too busy on my phone to make conversation with the those around me. I wanted my peers to be aware of this and to encourage them to disconnect from technology and connect with the real world. Therefore, I organized an informative community block and a no-technology lunch with the Chair of the Wellness Committee.

In “Faux Friendship,” associate professor William Deresiewics discusses the affect that social media has on our society. Deresiewics originally published this piece in The Chronicles of Higher Education in December 2009, but this piece has been published in The Nation, The American Scholar, The London Review of Books, and The New York Times. Deresiewics’ attempts to convince readers that social media take away our ability to build relationships in person. Despite Deresiewics’ appeal to ethos and this rebuttal to the opposition, “Faux Friendship” should not be considered for Culture Comment’s top prize for persuasive essays due to its attack on the reader and overpowering assumptions.

What will we be like if we continue to develop intimate relationships with our devices? Will we be more connected than ever, or more alienated? In “Can You Hear Me Now?”, by Sherry Turkle, a professor of the social studies of science and technology, argues that technology has made people more connected, but has also made us more alienated from each other. How now, when in public people mostly want to be alone with their personal networks, or devices. People used to talk to one other as they waited in line, or rode on the bus or subway. Now we spend that downtime checking emails, responding to messages, or scrolling through our social media feed. Turkle says, “People become alienated from their own experience and anxious about watching a version of their lives scrolling along faster than they can handle” (p. 508). Our devices are increasingly becoming a part of us, an extension of our mind. Turkle does an amazing job at showing her case by stating evidence that is very relatable, along with real life examples, and feelings that her audience has felt while dealing with their devices.

With the power of social media and the internet, we can connect globally in a way that was not possible before. Unfortunately, I do have to admit that it does take away a more personable interaction. Most people will connect with Facebook versus taking the time to see the person. For example, in the reading, “I’m Still Here: Back Online after a Year without the Internet” by Paul Miller, he said “It is the boredom and lack of stimulation that drives me to do things I really care about, like writing and spending time with others” (4). When we get bored, we want to do things we have never done before. The downside is, that there is people that rather kill that time on their devices. Rather than, cleaning their room or explore the world for those valuable 20 minutes they will text their life away. If everyone, was to go a month without the internet, the world would probably end. Everyone is so addicted to this new era of devices.

One can argue that social media lets us connect to one another. Yes, this is true to some extent but social media can also be the source of people driving each other away. When we are so busy having our noses in our phone constantly we miss everything that goes on around us. We lose a sense of communication when falling into this temptation of always having to know to what is happening on our phone. Thomas Freidman stated that he feels technology is dividing us instead of uniting us after experiencing a taxi ride gone wrong in the sense of the driver constantly chatting on his phone. After Apple introduced the iPod it seems the world has slowly drifted to a state silence. In Steve Johnson’s essay Social Connections, he tells of the time before

Social media is now part of our daily lives. We seem to have become attached to our devices and have made it part of our daily routine to use them. In my life, social media didn’t really affect me. I used to live in a wifi-free home, meaning that I didn’t have access to the internet. Both my mother and my father believe that internet is useless and kills your brain cells. Later they saw that I started to get lots of internet-required homework so they decided to install a wifi box at home. To be honest, I get very distracted now that I have internet at home. I don’t get things done as fast as I used to and I don’t use any of my time efficiently. Sometimes, after being on social media and watching cat videos for too long, I feel like I have no motivation to do anything. Now, I am more attached to my phone, but that will change.

As stated on Psychology Today, “there are so many positive aspects- not only does social media allow us to easily connect with loved ones and catch up with friends, it also provides entertainment, breaking news, and hottest trends from virtually anywhere around the globe,” (Flaxington 1). People think that technology is making our lives stress-free, when in fact it is making us overly dependent upon technology. Technology is advancing at a faster rate ever before in history. As technology has advanced, so has our total dependency on everyday things such as online shopping, constantly checking social media, etc. Some people even feel lost if they don’t have their phone in their hand. We are just so into other people’s lives that we are not aware of what is going on in

Matt Ritchel writes in Attached to Technology and Paying a Price that “They [cell phones and computers] shrink distances and handle countless mundane tasks, freeing up time for more exciting pursuits.” This shows that technology grants for one to be virtually anywhere and to be able to do more in a day that the limited amount if there was no technology. “Social media has made every relationship persistent and pervasive. We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Hampton, Social Media as a Community, paragraph 5). Moreover, this displays that people will not all of a sudden lose friends because they have not talked in a while, instead, one will be up to date on how their lives are

While many people put off and ignore the issue of social media and its downfalls, others say that people should think about how our lives are being affected by this advancement in technology, including, lack of human contact and precious time being lost due to consumption with social media. Social media is currently a highly controversial topic in which numerous people have mixed feelings. Society has typically viewed new advancements in technology as beneficial and a sign of success within their country. But, has it solely caused successful outcomes, or are there downfalls to these advancements?

Knowing when to use a device is key to make people have a great social life. As John Horvat from the TheBlaze website describes how effected people are that we would rather deal with a machine then a real person (Horvat, “Five Ways Technology Is Taking Over Your Life”).Self-discipline is something learned from a kid when they are being disciplined properly by their parents because as I grew up my parents would say, “stop watching (while they turn off the television) and go outside.” Also letting I use the computer only for homework and that’s all was the magic rule. Christian Lous Lange famous quote states, “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master” (“Technology: Useful Servant / Dangerous Master”, 2014). That is to say we control the technology and if ever gets control of us then it will cause danger to our society. Technology is not the bad but we are if we let ourselves to get manipulated. Also Lange gives truth about our technology by asserting, “Nowhere is this sense of serving a hidden master more pronounced than with the convergence of social media and mobile platforms” (Technology: Useful Servant / Dangerous Master”, 2014). Otherwise, to put it another way he is say there is a potential to see that hidden master which means having an addiction to social media and mobile platform. Nevertheless, this is where we go back to where the line is built to separate being the master and being the servant. Horvat then

The term ‘social media’ has become a broad-term to describe a large number of online systems that serve as a platform for the generation, and distribution of user-generated content. Social media creates a virtual social space, where a large number of users come together and interact with one another. These interactions can be either structured, such as responses that are moderated on blogs, semi-structured, such as a discussion between an extended network on Facebook, or unstructured, such as the anarchial functioning of Twitter.