Society And Me Analysis

Maria Konnikova's essay "The Limits of Friendship," analyzes the impact of social media on close relationships, addressing the people impacted by social media use. This essay published in The New Yorker, a weekly magazine with scholarly authors, to inform the public on social media's impact on our lives. She finds that social media has created a dependency on technology and online interactions. Konnikova strives to inform that social media is decreasing close relationships, and persuades that it will impact our future. She argues on the impact of increased dependency on social media on the Dunbar number, hindering the development of future generations. Konnikova succeeds using strong logic and scientific reason as well as appealing to emotions; however, she fails to prove her credibility over the topic and instead relies on the credibility of Robin Dunbar.

Social media has become one of the greatest developments of human technology history. In today’s society, human are surrounding by the social media and wireless devices. In Shannon Matesky’s spoken word poem “MySpace”, the poet explains “physical contact is more important than our number of contacts” (Matesky). According to the poet, Shannon Matesky successfully redefines the word “Myspace” from a formal definition of “the distance from other people or things that a person needs in order to remain comfortable” (Merriam-Webster), to an operational definition of the contact created on the social media. People now forget how to stay with face-to-face relationship, social media become the new way of communication. “We can’t deal with the face-to-face so we let technology replace the space that people are supposed to fill”(Matesky), said Matesky, we are losing the ability to connect each individual face to face, and socially connection has been taking over through social media by using technologic device. Shannon Matesky has successfully redefined the actual meaning of “Myspace” from the distance between two to the space one’s create on the social media. MySpace no longer refers to distance between two, but to

The article “I’m So Totally, Digitally, Close To You (Brave New World of Digital Intimacy)” (2002) is written by Clive Thompson, who is also a blogger and columnist. The author aims to explain the users’ attraction of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of “incessant online contact” through his text. Since social networking has become a nearly ubiquitous aspect of human contemporary life, Thomson has effectively illustrated the invasion of the social media into human daily lives, how people are commanded by it. He later goes on to explore the benefits of social networking sites and a few challenges of the usage assumptions.

“Social media allows people to connect with each other to create and share information. It is people-powered communication, an authentic dialogue motivated by a basic human desire to share information” (CIPD, Social Media and Employee Voice Report 2013). ‘Click’ and my message is on its way to my friend’s Facebook inbox hundred of miles away. The astonishing speed of how quick we can communicate in today’s societies, all thanks to social media. The invention of Facebook simplified everything we know about communication. We can connect to people whenever and wherever, sharing information has never been more convenient and exciting. In Shane Hipps’ Article, “ Is Facebook Killing Our Souls?,” he has no intention to impede technological advancements, instead he wants users to understand technologies with insights. According to my research, although Hipps ' points has some merits, I disagree with him because he overgeneralized the impacts that Facebook and other social media has on users’ behaviors and identities.

The halls were filled with scrambling teenagers, backpacks were shuffled across the floor, pages were being flipped back and forth, and the casual “Welcome to ____!” from teachers. The desks were rickety, the chairs were uncomfortable, the cluster of chattering from unfamiliar faces, along with the summer heat emitted from the walls. It was freshman year, it was high school. Often, I, and many others imagined, was asked by several family members and teachers growing up, “What do you want to be when you get older?” It varied. A princess. Police Officer. Nurse. Astronaut. Marine Biologist. Military Service Woman. Mechanic. Carpenter. Zoologist. Musician. Doctor. Teacher. At one point, I even wanted to be a mom. It was as if a new future was

n a study conducted by the ICMPA, in the University of Maryland in 2010 among 200 students, where the participants were asked to abstain from using media devices and social media for a period of 24 hours ; it was revealed that the overwhelming majority felt isolated and lonely as social media was the primary form of communication between peers and friends. The study stated “...but that student lives were wired together in such a way that opting out of that communication pattern would be tantamount to renouncing a social life.”(484). This illustrates the concern that a person's relevance or value is established by the existence of a virtual bio page. This also sheds light on the mindset of the current generation where, social media relevance

Social media platforms are defined as a constructed private or semi-public profile within a bounded system that links other users with whom they share a connection with and the “webs” between friends and family are created (Boyd). Social media platforms are decreasing the value of interpersonal relationships in our youth and this has led to a noticeable nuance in the values of the previous generation and the current one.

Barry Wellman, a sociologist at the University of Toronto who has analyzed social networks since the 1960s, says that today’s society believes the illusion that people spend their days interacting with a group of friends, engaging in community every day. This is not the case. The majority of people spend their free time sitting at home, alone, watching television (Jayson). Therefore, using social media actually brings the community closer together because people genuinely interact on these sites, as opposed to sitting at home watching television with no outside interaction. In fact, the writer from the Time magazine should be grateful that she even heard about her friend’s personal change, because if she and her so called friend were not close enough to call each other or meet face to face, the writer may have never heard about this change at all. This supports the evidence that social media does not break our community apart by limiting social interaction, but rather draws society closer together by providing a community centered activity where individuals can communicate.

Social media is inexpensive and user friendly, therefore many individuals use this form of communication to socially interact with family and friends who live thousands of miles away (Hertlein 382). This causes concerns that individuals will no longer connect physically to one another, and will ultimately eliminate face-to-face communications. However, individuals are still communicating with others, it is just in a different form. Social media does not alter social bonds, it allows for users to communicate and express themselves differently. Published in the International Journal of Relational Perspectives in 2011, S. Harman stated, “Relationships facilitated by technology appear to provide the same sense of well being as is associated with other types of close associations. The Internet may elicit some changes in how people communicate, but not why they do so” (Zilberstien 152). Those whom are using social networking sites tend to also be social in real-life. This new communication does not replace other forms

It’s quite the contradiction that nowadays with social media it is easier to talk with people but it’s harder to have a real bond with them. We can meet people on sites like twitter and Facebook or message boards but it isn’t as intimate as having a face to face conversation with another human being. This is making us a more lonely society. In a survey people in 1985 had a mean size of 2.94 personal confidants in 2004 the number was 2.08 (Marche 603). Also in 1985 10 percent of the American people had no with whom to talk about important matters with and 15 percent said they only had one good friend. By 2004 these numbers were up to 25 percent for nobody to talk to and 20 percent for only one good friend (Marche 603). What these numbers indicate is that the rise in technology has made us have less close personal relationships. In 2004 social media wasn’t as big as it is now so the numbers for this might be even larger in 2015. These problems seem to be caused by an overreliance on these websites and

In modern society, the demand for new technology is at a steady rate and everyday millions of social media profiles are being created. Virtual profiles have allowed for people to believe in unrealistic thought that the power of a virtual communities, in which ideas are shared and thoughts are heard, result in long lasting relationships and undeniable happy results. It is relatively easy to fool internet users to follow the “social revolution” into creating their own personal “happy” story through social media, in turn, they are supposed to experience happiness and create strong social bonds; thus, when the reality of being interconnected is put on a spotlight it is evident that the negative effects of being interconnected are present.

Have the people of America strengthened or struggled with social relationships because of how much social networking everyone does? One of the biggest arguments that people have is we are too dependent on our technical devices, that we hide behind them. According to Edison research, “an estimated 75 million Americans check their social networks, several times each day.” On the other side of the argument, we have the people who say technology is a wonderful thing why not use it and keep advancing. “There has been a more technological improvement in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000,” asserts Patrick Cox, co-editor of Technology Profits Confidential, our brand-new research service. “Since you and I have been trained to think in linear terms, this isn’t necessarily intuitive,” continues Cox. “However, a careful examination of history reveals that the rate of technological change actually accelerates over time. Due to this exponential rate of improvement, we are actually only seeing the beginning of disruptive, transformational changes in technology.” When 75 million people check their phones or social sites, several times a day it affects their social relationships to actual human beings or the way they go thinking about things and the dangers of the internet will corrupt them.

The increase of technological advancements such as the development of social media websites like twitter, Facebook, Instagram and snap chat has indeed made the world seem like a mere global village. However, in as much as the social networks have increased interactions via the internet, it has diminished the inter-personal relationship with actual people. Therefore, it is effective to state that, the recent development of social networking websites has to a larger extent corroded the real community.

While it is true Facebook allows us to see and comment on the happenings of an acquaintance’s life, we really do not maintain a deep relationship with that person. Facebook and other social networks give us the ability to interact and keep up to date on the daily lives of our close friends and acquaintances. Fisher comments on this phenomenon: “Today, our number of weak-tie acquaintances has exploded via online social networking. ‘You couldn 't maintain all of those weak ties on your own,’ says Jennifer Golbeck at the University of Maryland in College Park, who studies our use of social media. ‘Facebook gives you a way of cataloguing.’” This asserts that because of the development of social networks we can easily maintain a variety of contacts with whom we are not deeply connected or dependent upon for emotional support. Seeing a status update about their lives, or commenting on the Youtube video they share, does not automatically make people close friends, even on the Internet. Just like relationships in real life, Internet relationships require one-on-one interaction, usually in the form of personal messages between users. However, the Internet allows people to carry on multiple one-on-one conversations at a time, something impossible in real life, and further divides one‘s attention. In “Are Social Networks Messing With Your Head?,” David Disalvo speaks of the difficulties of balancing the online world with the real world and the dangers of letting interactions that

Michael Bond’s article, “Friends in high-tech places,” addresses Facebook’s user attitude demographics as well as other aspects of social media technology. He believes similarly to Sheldon, Facebook provides a community that encourages feelings of wellbeing (Bond). Social media usage also provides a way for people to maintain long distance relationships, romantic or otherwise. The further apart people are, the more time they spend on social media