Social Media

Do we really need to know everything about each other?

Social media is the cause of many people to become disconnected from the world that they live in. They have become consumed with who has the most followers, views, likes or re tweets. This motion is mostly likely seen in today’s teenagers or the young genera ration that grew up with technology. Many people however, rely on social media. According to the article “Using Social media logic” the author states “Indeed, the fast growth of online platforms forces everyone to adapt to a new reality, where the mass distribution of information, news, and entertainment seems no longer the privilege of the institutional few but “social media” or “mass media” are hardly autonomous forces in the organization of social events. ”Facebook, Twitter and other types of social Medias have created a pathway to connect everyone live together. . According to “Using Social Media Logic” the author states “Fast-growing networks like Facebook and Twitter with millions of active users are rapidly penetrating public communication, affecting the operational and institutional power balance of media systems.” According to the article “Is Social Media Dependence a Mental Health Issue” Stein states “They found that 70 percent of teenagers age 12 to 17 spend time on a social media site in a typical day, which amounts to 17 million teenage users. Those that interact via social media on a daily basis are five times likelier to use tobacco, three times likelier to use alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana”

Can we survive even for a moment without the use of social media? Today you see people always looking at their phone and drowning out the world around them. If a phone is unattached to their hand for more than an hour they start to freak out because they have lost their connection with the world.

According to the article “Disadvantages of Social Media: Surprising insight from Teens” A student states “The teenage way of life has completely changed from what it was only twenty years ago. Now, there is a dramatic decrease in face-to-face communication, which reduces our generation’s ability to interact with others on a speaking level.”

In the novel, The Circle, the Circlers are in charge of keeping their rank up based on performing various tasks, projecting and blogging their lives and activities. Throughout the book, Mae the main character starts out as a person who does not use social media as often as others. She is constantly called in to the office because she was unaware of the major use of social media in the Circle. Mae gets reprimanded by Dan, Denise, and Josiah because she has not signed up for any of the events or shown any picture or videos of her life. Another occurrence of social media would be when Mae was called into the office because of Alistair’s invitation that was sent out over social media.

“When the brunch occurred, Mae did not attend, and Alistair understandably was distressed about why she would not respond to the repeated invitations, and then fails to attend.

According to the article “Using Social Media Logic” the author states “Over the past decade, social media platforms have penetrated deeply into the mechanics of everyday life, affecting people’s informal interactions, as well as institutional structures and professional routines. We could look at them as the latest innovation in computer-mediated communication that poses serious challenges to existing institutions, such as mass media and government authorities.

Does it really matter if everyone like you and is interesting in what you do in your life? According to the article “Everybody’s business” the author states “Reputation is an essential feature of the human condition. People care how others see them”. We as people need to have the acknowledgement that we did well in something in order to feel better about ourselves. With the perception of how often pictures or videos are being upload on some sort of platform of social media this creates the idea that if you do not constantly post or keep up with the latest trend you are basically living under a rock. According to the article “ Everybody’s business” The author states “In this new world, public esteem still matters, but the forces that shape it are different. The all-important difference is the Internet, which has created a reputational economy as well as an electronic one. The virtue of cyberspace — the possibility of knowing everything now — is also its vice. In The Future of Reputation, Solve cites one estimate that as of July 2006 there were 50 million online blogs.” Mae completes various surveys on different topics for her job in the customer experience department and as she continues to answer several questions her rank continues increases compared to the users at The Circle. She becomes so focused on how people seen her she starts to become absorbed in what people think of her. In the book, “Three hundred and sixty- eight people loathed her. She felt devastated”

Social media is taking over people’s lives and creates a dependency between the different platforms. Can we really depend on social media?