The New Generation Research Paper

In this society many people completely immerse themselves in a new life that often times leads to distractions within their real life. Turkle states, “For those who are lonely yet fearful of intimacy, online life provides environments where one can be a loner yet not alone, have the illusion of companionship without the demands of sustained, intimate friendship”. This statement supports her overall claim that the addiction to technology leads to a person alienating themselves. A person could have the greatest life in an online environment and not even leave their house. This continues to lead the reader to the second trouble of her soul by setting them up emotionally. In this instance Turkle is trying to elicit a reaction of feeling sorry for the people reading her essay.

Over the last 30 years, the methods of human interactions have grown explosively, from face-to-face conversations, to video calling, instant messaging, texting, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat, and Instagram. As the technology we surround ourselves with pervades an increasing number of aspects in our lives, it has begun to affect our mental health. A Carnegie Mellon study concluding that internet usage leads to significant increases in loneliness and depression received U.S. national media coverage (Kraut, Patterson, et al., 1998). However, others argue that the internet may just provide a place of refuge for those suffering from loneliness, anxiety, and depression. (McKenna and Bargh, 59)

A case study involving a 16-year-old, Korean adolescent, living in the United States, exhibited signs of a process addiction to internet gaming. The male adolescent was referred by his mother who was concerned because her son’s behavior presented signs of depression which could have been linked to his reluctance to relocate to the U.S. He was having a hard time speaking English and he began to disengage with friends (Lee, 2011). He initially took a liking to playing Internet games at age seven, but the habit increased because of the amount of time he spent alone (Lee, 2011). His attitude became worse and his Internet gaming addiction increased. This form of isolation affected his relationships with friends and family. The subject expressed a need to decrease his

The article “Social Media as Community” “We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Keith Hampton) Social media has created amazing apps that let us meet people that are exactly how we are ourselves. They have helped many students get relationships that they thought would never happen. “There is little evidence that social media is responsible for a trend of isolation, or a loss of intimacy and social support.” “Social Networking Sites and Our lives.” On the internet there is little evidence that social media has caused an isolation. The internet has made it where we can talk to people far from here that are just like us and usually people don’t lose friends that are exactly like

Chatfield (2015) expressed that, “We began to weave constant availability into our conception of public and private space; into our body language and everyday etiquette (“I’ll get there for midday and give you a ring”)” (para.8); such statement made me agree with the author. We are constantly using devices to be up to date with the latest happenings anywhere, anytime, in which persons have become emotionally attached to their devices. It is important to be aware of current events and so it makes it convenient to always be connected. Also, another point made by the author was that, “…digital technologies mean my relationships with others and the world are extended and amplified beyond anything even my grandparents knew” (Chatfield, 2015, para.14). Although digital technology was invented for a faster and more efficient ways to communicate, it has made our lives less physically connected with others due to the lack of physical interaction. In the past, our grandparents had the pleasure of having verbal communication through physical connections, in which they were able to pick up on social cues, for example: facial features, gestures, body language and proximity; however, at present communication takes place with the connection of the internet with little to no social cues (Stewart, 2013). Digital technology is currently and

Through computer applications such as Second Life and Twitter, we create personas that we wish we could be. The Internet allows us to express the side of us that is too afraid to come out in real life because of social judgement.

I selected a video from the television show, South Park demonstrating Internet Paradox at the beginning of its investigations. Shelly Marsh, the main character in this video, has an Internet relationship with Amir; and once confronted with her ‘internet boyfriend’, she no longer knows how to talk to him because they are now face to face. The boyfriend, Amir, says “I’ll email you as soon as I get back home”, in a very awkward tone. This shows the lack of human interaction that happens when thinking about people being attached to there personal media. They do not know how to talk to another person in “real life”, face to face, in person, because of lack of communication skills. This happens because of how media is so involved in our lives, it

By spending inordinate quantities of time in the interactive, virtual, two-dimensional, cyberspace realms of the screen, she believes that the brains of the youth of today are headed for a drastic alteration.” (10) Numerous youth that interact online come in contact with people who are pretending to be someone that they are not. That causes the “pretenders” to lose touch with their personal identity and reality. It also causes the youth that they chat with to falsely learn about people. How could you possibly have strong relationships with people that you don’t really know accurate information about?

Ana Nogales, a psychologist, states that “online communication negates body language and verbal tone.” This is contradicted by the report that emoticons are capable of inciting the same reaction in the brain as seeing an expression in real life (Hudson). Technology has evolved to strengthen online communications. Owen Churches states that “this is an entirely culturally-created neural response”. Similarly to emoticons, the evolution of language has aided in the changes in online communications. Acronyms such as brb (be right back) or omw (on my way), are another form of communication which technology has enhanced. People can now communicate faster than ever, with multiple people at once. With a wider pool of people to talk to, one can find a group of friends or the most desired people to date instead of beings stuck with those in their immediate vicinity. Not only are bonds formed over the internet as real and valid as bonds formed offline, but the number of people encountered can increase, thus expanding the variety of people one talks to and their options to choose

The Social Presence Theory focuses on the idea that online users truly know who the person is that they are communicating with online (Baym, 59). The theory really emphasizes the importance of face-to-face communication because when you can physically see and hear the other person the communication becomes much more personal. Having a true sense of the other persons feelings and emotions is critical when communicating. There are many cues that we can only understand during a physical conversation. Some of the important cues include facial expression, direction of gaze, posture, dress, physical appearance, proximity, and bodily orientation (Baym, 59).

Dating websites, chat rooms, and other forms of Internet groups help to link together people near and far without the need for personal interaction. This is a major help to people like myself, who happen to be rather shy and reclusive when it comes to talking to people in person; however, on the Internet, I became a completely different person, opening up and letting my best friends know anything and everything about me. This vast communication ability allows for people like myself to do particularly anything they want, from simply meeting new people, to working with groups like Buddy Project to help people and to help myself (buddy-project.org should be their website if you wish to lend some support). The anonymous factor on the Internet, common within gaming universes, is helpful in the sense that it allows you to say whatever you feel without facing harsh repercussions from others. This, however, can also be seen as a particularly good factor - apps such as Brighten can be used in particular with the anonymous factor, where people post anything anonymously on a person's profile, meant to "Brighten" their day. In full, the Internet can potential be a place of anonymous, brooding hatred, but it can also be a place full of opportunities for

Internet gaming is one of the most common problem of which many people around the globe are facing in their daily lives. Addiction, one of the serious problems with internet gaming have caused severe changes to their behavior and attitude to life. Majority of teenagers and

According to psychologist John Suler and his idea of “The Online Disinhibition Effect”, some people, while online, self-disclose or act differently than they would

ii. However, for many of us, face-to-face communication seems to be a dying art – replaced by text messaging, e-mails, and social media. Human communication and interactions are shaped by available technologies

Instant Message Virtual Universe (IMVU), is an online platform that allows users from all over the world to communicate with one another in ways that would not normally be possible. IMVU allows users, both introverted and extroverted, to converse in online settings that ensure both parties feel comfortable with their environments. In this paper, I will use the term “offline life” in reference to the everyday realities people live and “online life” in reference to the lives people live in their online settings. In the online universe of IMVU, there are three types of rooms the users can find themselves in; the new rooms, the favorite rooms, and the personal rooms. Through these three rooms, personal experiences, and my interview with my