I have found that both “Kick Back and Endure Being Bored and Uncomfortable” by Clive Hamilton, and William Deresiewicz’s “The End of Solitude” can be efficiently summarized with the great social psychologist, Erich Fromm’s quote, “If I am what I have, then I lose what I have, who then am I?”. Hamilton’s article reflects his view illustrating that he views modern technology as a deterrent for people’s natural ability to not only accept, but to appreciate absolute gratification of solitude. It is this concept of people’s growing disvalue of solitude that both I, and Deresiewic concur with (demonstrated in his essay). I feel that the ability of people’s easy accessibility to social media is nothing more than a barricade…
“When every thought is externalized, what becomes of insight? When we reflexively post each feeling, what becomes of reflection? When friends become fans, what happens to intimacy?” (348). Orenstein has a strong argument, when we share every moment for the world to glimpse at, it strips away your personal identity. People lose their own sense of humanity and how they treat others in real life. It is analogous to the saying where people become objects and objects become people. Everyone loves the wrong object and treats others in the wrong way. A study by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan concluded that people have lost empathy, especially after the beginning of social media. Orenstein states, “Social media may not have instigated that trend, but by encouraging self-promotion over self-awareness, they may well be accelerating it” (348). The destruction of relationships will worsen as time goes on since people are slowly losing humanity traits, such as empathy, due to people being engrossed in social…
Facebook in Mache’s eyes was never at the top of its game. It was a spiral downwards towards the impending loneliness of society. Technology has never run as rampant, and for so long, such as Facebook has. It is a cancer of society, and instead of making us closer together it is making us much farther apart. Mache starts off his essay very strong with an enduring story that catches the readers eye. Mache makes it a goal to play on people’s emotions and uses examples that do just this in his essay. It is effective in catching the reader’s attention but also is a great way to convey a sense of emotion and connect directly with the reader. Statistics are also used frequently throughout Mache’s essay, they serve to enrich the paper and really help…
Libby Copeland on Slate’s article is asking a question “Is Facebook Making Us Sad?” In this article Copeland is providing her audience with relevant data about why in her opinion Facebook is making us sad and not happier in general. Copeland is trying to explain to us about the psychological side effects that social media not just Facebook has on people. With seeing our friends “perfect lives” we tend to have negative thoughts about our own lives and tend to see ourselves as the losers in life. Copeland explains her argument in an informative and persuasive tone, but more of a cause and effect style.…
In a recent study conducted by Matthew Brashears of Cornell University, 2,000 adults were asked the number of friends whom they share a close relationship with. The average response was 2.03 and it decreased from a similar study from 1985, which received an average response of three close friends (Silard. “From Face-to-Face to Facebook”). It is proven that humans thrive on human interaction, so cutting that face-to-face off could damage humans negatively by causing them to suffer more health problems due to physical inactivity and no interaction. “People who, like the Facebook COO, claim that we have never been so connected with each other are missing a vital point: the people making all these "connections" through the Internet and social media are, in the non-virtual plane sometimes referred to as "reality," sitting alone in front of a pixelated screen.” (Silard.). Even though we are able to interact with different of people from around the world, we become isolated from the people around us. People cut off their friends and family and would rather spend time on the…
Working Thesis: Advancements in communication through technology, such as texting and social media, has exacerbated the isolation and loneliness that Smith describes in her piece “Life on the Island”; public spaces are no longer a hub of communication, technology has affected users psychologically, and the constant hustle and bustle leads to warped perceptions of relationships.…
In the article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche we are informed of the negative effect social media can have on out psychological self. “Social media – from Facebook to twitter – have made us more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, new research suggests that we have never been lonelier.” (Marche 60)…
Today, new generations have adapted to a lifestyle where we invest the majority of our time in technology. Technology has allowed social medias such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter to control who our friends are. Malcolm Gladwell highlights whether or not these friendships are truly genuine, or inauthentic ones just kept over social media. In his essay, “Small Changes: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, Gladwell distinguishes between these two types of friendships as either “strong ties” or “weak ties”. He defines weak ties as a group of friends that we keep over social media, but don’t really exist in real life. Although weak ties come off as a negative thing, Gladwell sees strength in weak ties. Sherry Turkle, the author of the essay “Alone Together”, would disagree with Gladwell’s views on friendships kept through social media. Turkle believes very strongly in authentic relationships, and she therefore does not see technology as something that will benefit us. Turkle believes that technology makes us unable to hold authentic relationships. Personally, I disagree with Gladwell and agree with Turkle. Technology and social media have made us loose focus on who our real friends are, and people will continue down this path of inauthenticity until fake relationships, or weak ties, are all that we have left. New generations have begun to invest all of their time in the friends that they make over social media, leaving little to no time for their real friends. Weak ties, in the long run, will completely take over the time we invest in our strong ties, thus diminishing authentic relationships.…
The Los Angeles Times posted about Vickers’s death. It instantly went viral. Her death increased a growing fear of loneliness. Vickers received much more attention in death then she did in her last years of life. Soon Vickers’s fame began to fade. Marche includes this information to show that Facebook and Twitter “trends” aren’t real grief and they only last a brief moment. Next Marche explains, the way Internet has begun to make our society less social, making us lonelier. Marche uses large number amounts of money and yeas to show how much is invested causing the reader to forma an opinion that Facebook has high influential tendencies.…
The article "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely" was wrote by Stephen Marche and was published in the Atlantic. The article catch the eye of the reader because it can be relate to our daily life in this generation. Social network is a medium where everyone involve themselves in.…
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.…
Veronica Majerol shows how many young people are starting to not use Facebook in her article, “Unfriending Facebook.” Using examples, quotes from many people and statistics.…
Some debate that Facebook, and other social networking sites are undermining our ability to communicate and the use of such sites dehumanise what is an important part of community life and living together. However, if anything, I believe these social networking websites allow us the opportunity to meet and form friendships with people that we may not otherwise communicate with and to create these friendships faster. They allow us to keep in contact with friends and family, whether they are in our own city or on the other side of the world, with greater ease. In today’s fast paced environment nobody has time to sit down daily and respond to individual emails; Facebook and MySpace allow us to reach all of our friends and colleagues with a simple click of a button. For the introverts among us, social networking eliminates the pressure of face to face contact and can help those shy people with the initial contact of meeting others. Facebook’s photo sharing application is rated the most used on the Internet, drawing more than twice as much traffic as the next three sites combined. These statistics show a great emphasis on the online community, especially when 14 million photos are being uploaded every day. With active users doubling every six months and more than half of active users returning daily it is clear to see people all over the world are embracing the convenience of social networking.…
When you live most of your life through social media you begin to have a feeling of alone and loneliness. This happens because of your lack human communication. Instead of speaking with people in person you mainly talk through internet access. When this access is not available the feeling of being alone takes over your body most of the time especially if you have no close family by. Also studies have shown that the more lonely a person is, the more time they’ll likely spend more time on Facebook trying to find online friendships or relationships. In “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely” by Stephen Marche, Marche says…
Social Networks are, on these days, the perfect way to communicate and keep in touch with your friends and family, and even to let them know about your plans and lifestyle. The disadvantages of using social networks are commonly ignored by users. I must say, I used to do it too, until one day. That morning, as the sun was rising from beyond the mountains and gradually changing the color of the sky from dark to blue. My day was starting like any other day; I brushed my teeth, took a bath, got dressed, went to class the whole morning, and then spent the rest of the day studying in the library. But my day took a sudden change when the sun was dying in the dark and made the sky black.…