Social Media and society

Effects of Social Media and Technology on Society

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” -Albert Einstein
I bet you read that quote and thought something to point of “Wow! How prophetic. That is so true, but how did Einstein know this would happen”? Well no matter how wise the words are; Einstein did not say them. I’m sure if he had lived to see the 21st century, though, he would have said something like that. Someone out there came up with this quote and stuck his name to it. Einstein may not have said it, but it is still true (Salazar). We are starting to hit a generation that depends fully and completely on technology: for communication, for school, for directions/maps, for dating help, for cooking, for all sorts of entertainment, and for just anything and everything you can think of. I’m not trying to say that technology is all bad; I mean I know I would definitely struggle without the internet, or my iPod, or instagram, or my phone. It would have been very difficult to have lived in a time where you went without technology your whole life, let alone even a day. I would not have been able to do that. But this is what I’m trying to show you with that quote; has that day come? Where technology has taken over our lives? It is starting to seem that way. I don’t think you can find one person (in the U.S.) without some type of technology: television, phone, computer, iPod, tablet; you name it and I bet everyone has at least one of those. When did it all start? First off, concepts that would lead to the internet were first introduced to the public in the late 60’s. It grew largely, getting more complicated and in depth each year. There were many ways that were created to communicate through the internet, examples would be; instant messaging and email. Then, not even 10 years ago the most successful Social Media site was created, Facebook. There are many different Social Media sites out now including: Twitter, Instagram (which was bought by Facebook), Vine, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Omegle, Tinder, Myspace, and many more; but Facebook is the largest and fastest growing of all of them. Over the past 10 years Facebook (and other Social Media sites) has become such an important thing among society, to the point where society probably would not be able to function without them. It has done so much to help society, but at the same time it has caused a lot of problems. Social Media has helped us communicate with people thousands of miles away to even just a mile away or less, and also connect with people you might have never known before. The internet, smart phones, and Social Media have all done great things for us, but what has it really done for society? People today have become so obsessed with communicating through a Social Media or smart phone that no one knows how to communicate face to face anymore, and it is getting worse and worse for each upcoming generation. There are also many problems that have formed out of it like addiction, depression, privacy issues, family problems, and bullying. Since Facebook is the largest Social Media site and has been around longest, I will be mainly focusing on that and smart phones (which include the internet), and how they have affected the way we live. Facebook was started by a man by the name of Mark Zuckerberg. Mark, with some help from three of his friends, created Facebook in a dorm room at Harvard University during Mark’s sophomore year of college. They intentionally created it for students at Harvard to get to know each other better; a place where they could create their own profiles, upload photos, and communicate with other students. “Facebook, was built around a few simple ideas: that ‘people want to share and stay connected with their friends and the people around them’; that if people have ‘control over what they share, they will want to share more’; and that ‘if people share more, the world will become more open and connected. And a world that’s more open and connected is a better world” (The Facebook Effect). Zuckerberg and his three friends named the site “The Facebook”. At first, it was limited to Harvard students only; but when it became extremely popular among the Harvard students, they decided that students at other choice colleges around the Boston area would be allowed to make profiles. They gradually opened it up to most universities in the U.S. and Canada. Zuckerberg then decided to drop out of Harvard to devote himself to Facebook fulltime. The company was then moved to Palo Alto, California; and by the end of 2004, Facebook had 1 million users. Facebook started allowing High School students to join and create profiles; and eventually allowed anyone 13 and over to join. It still stands that way today. When this opportunity was presented, Facebook grew by the millions; each year getting larger and larger. Now, with over 1 billion users, Facebook is the largest and fastest growing social networking site in the world. As of today, Facebook is valued at over $10 billion dollars. Facebook isn’t just a money making machine though, it has also helped create jobs too. It has created over 100,000 jobs in Europe. Those jobs have helped the European economy by putting in about $15 billion euros. Facebook creates jobs and helps economies all over the globe.
Facebook’s “population” is about 3 times larger than the United States population. People all over the world use Facebook. If you really look into it, it is like its own world, inside of the world we live in today. People use it and abuse it. Zuckerberg created it to connect people and it does do that, but people use it for so many other reasons. People use it to express their thoughts on anything. They say things to people through Facebook that would never say to someone in real life. They hide behind their screen and their keyboard. Facebook is good and bad at the same time. It can bring people together and tear people apart. It is a very powerful thing, and I don’t think many people realize that. If people understood what happens with what they are putting out there and who can see it; I don’t think Facebook would have grown so large and powerful, so quickly. It was meant to be good, but has grown into a dangerous thing; and the many people that use it can’t see that past all the statuses and photos they see and upload every day.
Facebook can be dangerous, but it really can also be a fantastic way to communicate. You can chat with relatives or friends who live on the other side of the country, or who just live right down the street from you. It basically allows you to talk to anyone you have ever met. You can upload photos and videos to share with everyone, and also update your status to let everyone know what is on your mind. Thanks to Facebook, you don’t have to wait days or even longer periods of time to receive a response from another person. Most people nowadays have smart phones that they can log in to Facebook anywhere. You can get messages through to people and they can respond within an instant. With all this instantaneous communication, traditional communication methods are decreasing; even just making a call. Everyone wants to type their message into something. No one can have a normal conversation anymore. People are so prone to typing everything to say it, and reading messages on a screen that trying a read people’s body language is becoming more and more difficult.
Smart phones have also become a very large part of the way we communicate too. At first, being able to call someone and talk through a device was the most amazing thing; then it was mobile phones and eventually texting. There were a couple forms of smart phones throughout the 90’s that were introduced, but 2007 is when the first iPhones were put on the market by Apple. IPhones are the main phone you think of when you think of “smart phone”. They are the most popular phones, and right behind that would be android phones. They are all touch screen (except for a couple of the earlier generations of androids) and in this day and age if you have 3G or 4G, you are automatically connected to the internet anywhere you go with them. You can download games and songs on them, and there is an app for everything out there that you can have access to with just the push of a button, or in other words, the touch of a screen. You get access to GPS systems on smart phones; and if you need to know the weather, well then the weather channel app is on there too. There is a calendar, a clock, an alarm clock, every Social Media site known to man, a notebook, a calculator, the stocks, the internet of course, a bookshelf, the news, reminders, an app to download more apps, and so much more! It is pretty insane. You can do just about anything with a smart phone. No wonder everyone is on their phone all the time. With everyone being so involved with their phones, and with almost unlimited access to internet, people are able to get onto Facebook or other Social Media anytime, anywhere. This then leads me to addiction. What is addiction first off? According to Medilexicon 's medical dictionary: Addiction is Habitual psychological or physiologic dependence on a substance or practice that is beyond voluntary control. “People with an addiction do not have control over what they are doing, taking or using. Their addiction may reach a point at which it is harmful. Addictions do not only include physical things we consume, such as drugs or alcohol, but may include virtually anything, such abstract things as gambling to seemingly harmless products, such as chocolate - in other words, addiction may refer to a substance dependence (e.g. drug addiction) or behavioral addiction (e.g. gambling addiction)” (“What is addiction? What causes addiction?”). Most addictions start out as habits. A habit is done by choice. You choose to do it, and you can choose to stop; but once you have made it a habit long enough it can and it will morph into an addiction. Once it turns down that path, there is almost no turning back: you cannot control it, you cannot choose to stop, and you become dependent on it to cope with daily life. This then raises the question: Could a person become addicted to Facebook and Social Media? The answer is indeed, yes. It is actually a very common addiction nowadays; and it all started out as a habit. These people probably started out checking their Facebook page two, maybe three times a day, and then maybe their instagram right after along with their twitter and pinterest; and eventually it became a habit for them. They chose to check them in the morning before school or work, then again when they got home, and probably before they went to bed. As soon as those became habit for them, that’s when they started adding in more times they checked their Social Media pages. They would log in any time they could, and like I said earlier, with smart phones that was very easy. Soon enough, they are checking their Social Media sites every hour or maybe even every thirty minutes. They lose sleep over it, they can’t focus at work because it’s all they think about, and some people even ignore their own family because they get so sucked into them. These addicts will be on their Social Media sites for hours and hours and won’t even realize it. It really is an actual problem, and it can be fixed; just like every other addiction can be fixed. Becoming addicted to Facebook and technology isn’t the only problem with it. Cyber bullying is becoming a big issue. Cyber bullying, is bullying that can happen through any kind of electronic device. Examples of cyber bullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles. With such easy access to Social Media sites and internet nowadays cyber bullying is happening more and more often. Cyber bullying is a big problem in younger teenagers. It has caused many suicides. Kids aren’t just getting bullied at school anymore. They get bullied both at school and at home, they are getting double duty now; and it is all behind closed doors. Most parents won’t even know. But how are you supposed to prevent it? I honestly don’t think there is a way. If you take the kid that’s being bullied electronics away then it stops it for him/her; but the “bully” could then still be bullying 5 other people, and some of those kids could be bullying other kids to make themselves feel better. It is a never ending stream. We just need to be more aware of it, and let kids know that if something like that is happening to them, that it is okay to talk about it. If we don’t, then there will be many more problems and deaths that I don’t even want to think about. Another problem that arises with Facebook is depression. What exactly is depression? “Most people have felt sad or depressed at times. Feeling depressed can be a normal reaction to loss, life 's struggles, or an injured self-esteem. But when feelings of intense sadness -- including feeling helpless, hopeless, and worthless -- last for many days to weeks and keep you from functioning normally, your depression may be something more than sadness. It may very well be clinical depression -- a treatable medical condition” (“What is depression?”). People can become depressed over plenty of things, including Facebook and other Social Media sites. They become so involved with them, that they can’t think straight. Anything that happens on these sites affects this person’s attitude. People become depressed because they think they don’t have enough “friends” or “followers”, or not many people will like their post so they think no one likes them or they have no friends and they become depressed over it and they hate life. Well, both being addicted to Social Media and becoming depressed over it can cause a lot of family problems. Both parents and kids can get addicted and/or depressed over Social Media sites it causes a lot of problems with those family relationships. If one spouse is addicted and/or depressed over Social Media, then they forget to save time for the other spouse because all they think about is being on that computer. The other spouse then feels ignored (or even kids in some situations), so they think the only way out is divorce. It is starting to tear families apart. It might be a rare thing right now, but here within 5 to 10 years it will be a big thing. As you can see, technology and social media have forever changed the world we live in. We will never be able go back to what we were before. But if all that can happen in 10 to 20 years, what do you think will happen in the next 10 to 20 years to come? Will Facebook have become a world power by then? Or will it have completely died out and a new/better Social Media site come out that everyone is getting addicted to and depressed over? It’s a lot to think about. Technology and Social Media fit right into a grey area. That have done so much for us, yet they have caused so many problems. But I feel as if we cannot blame Technology and Social Media for what society has become, we must blame society itself. We are the ones who created it, and have over used and abused it. We don’t know how to live without our technology now, what will it be like in 10 years? It might just be built into our hands. I can just see our world somehow turning into the world off the movie Wall-e. Everyone has their own little chair that does everything for them and no one walks, they all just move around on their chair with the screen always on, and everyone always doing something or watching something on their screen. Wall-e at one point accidently knocks a screen and it shuts off. The lady kind of freaks out for a second but then looks around and is amazed; like she had never actually seen the space ship before. If you really think about it, society is on that path. Everybody is so zoned into their phones all the time that they are not seeing the world and how truly beautiful and amazing it is. If you go sit in a mall or a school or even just on a bench and watch people, most everyone is looking down and is zoned in and focused on a screen and what is on it, just like in Wall-e; all you need to do is add a chair.

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