The Way We Live Now: I Tweet Therefore I Am

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) offers infinite connections and the ability to express oneself to the world. But are these connections and images of self-based upon fact or fiction? Through selective self-presentation, people often present the “ideal self” instead of the “actual self” in the online environment to achieve the feeling of positive self-esteem. In “The Way We Live Now: I Tweet, Therefore I Am”, Peggy Orenstein writes of how her Twitter posts reflected an idealized version of her life. Two studies support the hypothesis that such editing can have a positive effect on personal self-esteem. “Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem” by Amy Gonzales presents a study demonstrating

Since the invention of the Internet, people have become indulged with its copious functions, from making advanced programs to learning how to do new projects to social media. Social media has evolved over the years, from Friendster to Myspace to Facebook, since the late 1990s, and people have incorporated it into their lives. It is the modern way for people to connect and communicate with anyone and everyone across the globe. Plus, social media is everywhere; people utilize it when they are on the bus, at the checkout line, and even when they are using the restroom. In Peggy Orenstein’s “The Way We Live Now: I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” she propounds that social media has altered society. Social media has changed society’s priorities, characteristics, and mentality.

The more we use social media, the less happy we seem to be. Many people would agree that social media leads to isolation, depression, and anxiety. Social Media impacts people in many ways; some are good, but some are very bad. Using social media to communicate is extremely convenient, unfortunately, more people are developing social anxiety because we are learning to comunicate through a screen from a young age. Also, seeing people posting about all the good in their lives can lead you to compare yourself to others. Most importantly, increased exposure of bullying through the internet contributes to high risk of depression. Generally, social media has more bad effects on our mental health than good ones.

Firstly, there have been significant links between our online presence and other aspects of our mental health, which has inspired the subject matter of many recent research studies around the world. There are many psychological and physical factors that affect our mental well-being due to the impact of social media. Depression and Body Dysmorphia being the leading causes, due to the content the individuals are exposed to while online. Even though researchers coined the correlation between social media use and depression as complex. Data was collected from a sample of 340 first year college students, and the findings were that the increase use of Facebook have been associated with higher levels of loneliness. Also the extensive use of Facebook has been associated with higher rates of disordered eating and body image insecurity.

Imagine a typical teenager; eyes staring at the bright, white screen, fingers moving everywhere from corner to corner and from top to the bottom, scrolling down the page to text a friend, while “liking” posts and sharing photos, all the while not knowing that the brain is negatively changing. Most teenagers think social media is a place that empowers them to make and share content, but they do not realize that it can cause them harm or become an addiction. Hilary Stout, a Los Angeles Times writer, who wrote “Antisocial Networking?,” opposes to social media. Teens who use social media on a daily basis overuse and rely on social media, so their brains are being rewired resulting in less empathy for others, the inability to understand different

Over the last ten years, social media has made its way into almost every human’s life, especially the new generation. From Myspace to Facebook to Twitter and Snapchat and much more, social media has changed the meaning of life. The social “norm” now is if you’re not

Any individual who even merely observes the society in which humans participate in today has the capability of noting how almost every aspect of life revolves around social media. Unfortunately, the growth of the era typography into the era of telegraphy and the internet has only enabled the phenomenon of a digital life to flourish and revolutionize daily life. This lifestyle receives an inconceivable amount of contempt due to its stereotype of disengaging individuals from their surroundings, but not many people consider how society may benefit from a media-saturated environment. Of course, not dissimilar to other aspects of life, a person involved with media-communication will reap what they sow, and therefore each individual’s success relies

Everyone in this generation owns a cell phone; they have become an essential part of our lives. We are able to call, text, video chat, email, research, and post on social media all with the push of a button. Instead of travelling across country or writing letters and waiting weeks for a response, we are now able to communicate from virtually everywhere we go. Social media such as Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram allow us to communicate with friends and family and meet new people as well. Although not everything about social media is the greatest, such as excessive posting, privacy issues, and bullying, many good things can come out of it. In one recent instance, a man on Twitter was scrutinizing a woman’s weight in one of her pictures. Celebrity, Zendaya, saw this post and immediately searched for this girl through social media in order to offer her a modelling job for her clothing line. The woman’s dreams came true in that moment and had social media to thank for this opportunity (Miller, 2017). It is amazing to see how developed our communications have gotten through the years. Technology has improved so much that there are now numerous ways to reach out to friends and

Mental health has been shown to be negatively affected by heavy use of social media. A recent study from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine examined depression rates in younger adults, finding significantly increased odds of depression among those spending the most time engaged in social media (“3 Ways Technology Can

Social media is one of the most popular means of communication today. The general public uses social media to talk to loved ones, find long lost friends, and participate in online discussions. As technological capabilities have advanced over the years, so has the public’s reliance on social media. Debates have surfaced about whether the public is misusing social media. Many people are questioning whether social media is replacing human interaction and isolating people from one another. In my life, social media has helped me find and stay connected to the people that I care about the most. Social media does not isolate people from one another and benefits society by making it possible to have discussions over the internet.

Technology as a whole has changed the way we live our everyday lives in numerous ways. We now have the opportunity to do many things with a touch of a button, to name a few, starting our cars, tying our shoes, or accessing the world of social media. The single piece of technology that has impacted most of us today is the cellular phone, which leads us to the wonders of the Internet. In today’s society there is a plethora of troubles we face, what comforts most of us and makes our lives a little easier is the world of social media. Social media sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Tinder, Twitter, and countless other websites can help us feel connected with the world and/or our surroundings. To most people social media might

The claim opposers say is that social networks and media keep us close together and connected, but has connection really gotten better? Or is this a false sense of connection that social media creates. In a study done at Cornell University, Dr. Strogatz states that social media can make it more difficult for us to distinguish meaningful relationships in the real world. Due to the many easy relationships formed through social media, the brain will focus much of our time and a lot of psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, and our most important connections will weaken and wither. Along with social implications, there comes physical health as well. Researchers suggest that due to prolonged and constant social media use, chances increase for weight gain, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety. The psychological effects can be devastating to the whopping 1 in 4 people on the Earth today who have a social media account of some form. All thanks to the power of the internet today and the ease of access it comes to many of us today. Another culprit of the implications with social media and the destructive force that is the internet, is cyber-bullying. Bullying isn’t new, but it has definitely changed over the years. Back in the day, children were usually bullied at school or in the neighbourhood. Today, with the increase of Internet, children are now being bullied at all times in all locations. In fact, according to reports at the Washington Post, nine out of ten teen facebook users have stated that they have seen bullying on a social media site. In addition, 54 percent of those surveyed claimed to have experienced bullying on the same exact site. The effects of bullying may appear subtle in the beginning. However, if it persists, the results can be very tragic. One of the most serious of these consequences is suicide. This can be in result of some people unequipped with

With new technical breakthroughs happening every minute, technology is advancing far beyond our imagination. The internet has become increasingly accessible with new smartphones and smart devices, and with them came new social media applications. Social media has now become a large factor in the lives of many people across the globe as a means of finding and distributing information. People spend more and more time on the internet, and less time having face to face human interactions. Instead of human interactions and networking, popularity and social status is now based on friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, and Instagram “likes”. The lack of meaningful social interactions has caused an increase in mental health issues such as social anxiety and depression, and adversely impacts human society. Digital technology negatively affects happiness because it causes loneliness, mental illness and a disconnection from the real world.

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.

My next point is that excessive use of social media makes us lonely and prone to depression. We spend most of the time on social media and that can come with bad consequences. Grieg states this in his article: “...and an earlier study from the same researcher found that increased internet use led to a decline in communication with friends and family, and