How social Media Affects Society
AP Lang
Social media nowadays plays a huge part in society. We use it to blog, wiki, listen to podcasts, communicate, share photos, and we use it for entertainment. Facebook is one of the largest and most popular social networking sites on the internet with over 604 million active users as of September 30,2012 (Olanoff). In other words, it’s gotten pretty huge since its launch in 2004. Overall, Facebook and social media influence cyber bullying, lack of productivity, addiction, isolation, an absence of privacy, and a false sense of connection. One way social media –especially Facebook- negatively impacts us is it gives us a false sense of connection. Cornell University’s Steven Strogatz states “social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections, will weaken” (Jung). What this statement suggests is that instead of having a meaningful conversation with someone, we now communicate through 30 character emotionless status updates. Posting a status or sending a message is not the same as talking to someone face to face. The text that is being communicated is not personable (“Social Networks Are Making People Less Social”). Gone are the days when society would send long letters to each other and let their divergent personalities flow. The children of our future won’t think about stopping by someone’s house or meeting up at the library, they’ll think about sending that person a message through Facebook. Thus, social media and social networking is actually making society less sociable. In addition to making people less sociable, social media also opens the door to cyber bullying. Cyber-bullying has always been an issue on the Internet. Facebook seems to be the number one spot for cyber-bullies to
Social media nowadays plays a huge part in society. We use it to blog, wiki, listen to podcasts, communicate, share photos, and we use it for entertainment. Facebook is one of the largest and most popular social networking sites on the internet with over 604 million active users as of September 30,2012 (Olanoff). In other words, it’s gotten pretty huge since its launch in 2004. Overall, Facebook and social media influence cyber bullying, lack of productivity, addiction, isolation, an absence of privacy, and a false sense of connection. One way social media –especially Facebook- negatively impacts us is it gives us a false sense of connection. Cornell University’s Steven Strogatz states “social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections, will weaken” (Jung). What this statement suggests is that instead of having a meaningful conversation with someone, we now communicate through 30 character emotionless status updates. Posting a status or sending a message is not the same as talking to someone face to face. The text that is being communicated is not personable (“Social Networks Are Making People Less Social”). Gone are the days when society would send long letters to each other and let their divergent personalities flow. The children of our future won’t think about stopping by someone’s house or meeting up at the library, they’ll think about sending that person a message through Facebook. Thus, social media and social networking is actually making society less sociable. In addition to making people less sociable, social media also opens the door to cyber bullying. Cyber-bullying has always been an issue on the Internet. Facebook seems to be the number one spot for cyber-bullies to
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