Social media hinders social relationships Essay

Submitted By wundy
Words: 1060
Pages: 5
Open Document
Humans are social creatures; the feeling of loneliness can drive us insane, yet we are in a culture that promotes individualism. Individuals are often measure by personal achievement. Career, wealth, family, etc. Because of this many people lose their social connections, just to favor their self-image. This is why people define themselves as lonely. This is why the feeling of isolation is so common in the modern world. The reason for this is the online social network. In a world where time is money, were surrounding pressure forces us to achieve more and more, our social life often takes the back seat on our priority list. This is where technology comes in handy. It is simple, fast, and young. We become addicted to this virtual romance, it is disguised by a social network that provides a service that allows us to manage our social life effectively. However, we being to feel so connected we begin to collect friends as if they are stamps. We are not comparing the number of friends versus the quality of those friends, and changing the meaning of intimacy and friendship with the exchanging of photos and chat room conversations. By doing this, we are tricking our minds into thinking that these conversations will lead to connections. We are put into a situation where we claim to have many friends, but in reality we could be lonely. Sure conversation is great, but online conversation can only go so far.
Would you rather meet someone for the first time in person or in a chat room? While having a conversation with someone in person, you can pick up enormous amounts of information. The conversation you have is immediate and engaging. You can pick up on nonverbal cues, behavioral tendencies, habits, body language and so on. You can learn things about this person by just looking at their clothes, mannerisms, or something as simple as preferences in food choice. There is a connection between you and the person because it is happening in real time. There is no way you could receive this type of information via a chat room or even a Skype call. Meanwhile, texting, e-mailing, posting pictures, all of these things present ourselves as we want them to be. We are allowed to edit ourselves. Leaving out pieces of our self-image that you may not see via social media. Investing hours to create our profile, figuring out the best configuration of words in a text message, or choosing the photo we look the best in, or even editing a photos properties to make us look more appealing. Instead of building a solid relationship, we are pursuing personal rewards. All of this is supposed to show a desirable image of who we are. Yet, we are showing others what we really are not. How are we supposed to create relationships with one another if we are not representing our true self? Social media is changing our relationships and in the future will change how we form relationships. We are expecting more from technology and less from each other. The social media isn’t just changing what we are doing, but who we are as a person. That is because technology appeals to us most where we are most vulnerable. We are vulnerable because we are lonely. Social media offers us a fantasy that stats we will never be alone. This fantasy is changing us. We think that if we share something we are keeping in close contact with our “friends”. We often use technology to define ourselves. Our thoughts and feelings are posted on the internet to the world the very instant we are having them. Think of the countless people walking the sidewalks with their heads down and eyes connected to their phone. We think that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone. But in reality the opposite is true. The more connected we to various social media outlets, we are more alone. On the opposite spectrum of loneliness is narcissism. Narcissism is when you are obsessed with your self-image. The only thing you are worried about is how you look, and how you appeal to others. You
Show More

Related Documents: Social media hinders social relationships Essay

Jessica Antoinet Der 10pg paper

2 April 9, 2015 Dr. Ahern Research Paper: Social Media Dependence Technology has diminished the purity and quality of face-to-face conversation. Cell phones, iPods, tablets, and laptops have created an interference. Through the development of social media, and portable access of these sites, face-to-face conversations have developed an awkwardness and unfamiliarity. Technology is taking the place of face-to-face communication, due to social media sites that serve as a crutch rather than a catalyst…

Words 1146 - Pages 5

Essay On Extrinsic Motivation

target population in this study is from Serbia, a country where English is a foreign language. Much of nowadays social and digital media are English-medium so it opens up doors to many professional and personal development opportunities. Thus, the gap that we want to address in the current literature is university students´ interest and engagement in social and digital media have any relationship with their motivation to learn English. Thus, this research sets out to investigate two…

Words 925 - Pages 4

Year 11 Case Study

1. How did the United States sell it's products and culture globally during the 1950's? During the 1950, the United States sell their products by flooding the global market and using the media. 2. The CIA was formed in 1952, what was one of it’s first projects? The CIA first project was protecting the oil reserve in Iran. 3. Why was the UFC (United Fruit Co.) unhappy with President Arbens? UFC was unhappy with President Arbens as he was taking some of the company land away to give to peasant. 4…

Words 456 - Pages 2

Essay about Video Games

games. Since the beginning of their time, videa games have affected our communication and socialization technique. As Dr. Schrag mentioned in his lecture, one of the biggest concerns with video games is whether or not online interaction enhances or hinders interpersonal experiences (The Computer as Uber Container). As mentioned before, for the sake of video games, it was very necessary for all of the advancements before them to blend. Before exploring the creation of video games, it is vital that we…

Words 1641 - Pages 7

Final Draft Essay 4 Negative and Positive Effects with Technology

I ignored him again and went to my room to go on my computer. I began to notice that I didn’t have many friends, who talked with me and wanted to hang out, I didn’t know why, but technology kept my spirits alive. Even though it did, I was sad because I had no social interactions. The computer also had a webcam, that I would use extensively because I wanted to take the perfect picture, I was worried because I wanted to look my best, when I posted my picture on the internet. This was an obsession of mine, I became obsessed with my looks…

Words 3040 - Pages 13

Planned Parenthood Case Study

project: Healthy U. We believe that the IBM was used because of the juxtaposition of its three main criteria (perceived norms, personal agency, and attitudes) with the social structure and pressures of the teenage world. The Healthy U program aims to increase teen awareness about STD/HIV risks, pregnancy and abortion, relationships and abuse, as well as provide sessions in which students can gain usable skills. By completing the 5-7 day program at school adolescents learn and develop refusal skills…

Words 2084 - Pages 9

Stop The Stigma Campaign

As part of the Stop the Stigma Campaign, The Hartford Hospital, The National Alliance on Mental Illness and various other Mental Health organizations work to not only address social stigmatization, but also to bring awareness of the harmful reality of self-stigmatization. (see fig.4.) This can be seen in one of their campaign posters, through the depiction of an individual darkened out to the point of being unrecognizable. The figure is seen to be internalizing negative misconceptions and becoming…

Words 956 - Pages 4

Computer-Mediated Communication

communication in this century is mobile, instant, and global. Technological forums like email, texting, and social networks have become the norm. I will argue that computer mediated communication (CMC), has an effect on the relationships individuals build with each other; by not following the basic steps of the Social Penetration Theory. My argument is that computer mediated self-disclosure through a social network skips steps that would occur in face to face communication, as CMC allows for safe disclosure…

Words 2552 - Pages 11

Stats: Social Networking People Essay

Is Social media a blessing or a curse? Now days society is so privileged and spoiled with these practical gadgets like the IPod, smart phone, I pad, nook, 3-D movies, touchscreen this and that. Don’t get me wrong this new technology is handy dandy and sometimes just plain amazing to mess with but do we really need it. No. Not to long ago cd players was they way to listen to music and the Internet was more of a place to find information not a place to randomly post about how bad your day was…

Words 610 - Pages 3

Women's Gender Roles

Customary practices are fluid because they are socially embedded and are based on evolving local social and political relations. But this can potentially help or hurt women, and at a time when the clan leaders feel under siege and land scarcity is great, women have no guarantees that their just claims will be given their full consideration.” Kwasi Konadu…

Words 788 - Pages 4