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Reflection on social media and mental health
A reflection on social media and mental health
The impact of the internet on social interaction
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In the article “Is Facebook Faking Us Lonely,” author Stephen Marche creates a report on “what the epidemic of loneness is doing to our souls and society.” Marche’s thesis statement is that “new research suggests that we have never been lonelier (or more narcissistic) –and that this loneliness is making us mentally and physically ill” from which he attributes this to social media. Marche’s purpose in writing this article is to persuade readers to think that social media, specifically Facebook, is converting real life relationships to digital unsociable ones, which is causing negative effects to our psyche. The author introduces being alone, something every human craves, is different from loneliness. However, he claims that this digital age …show more content…
Marche first draws in readers using pathos, but his examples of logos throughout the article are the real selling point. After the gruesome story about Yvette, Marche begins to talk about how “we live an accelerating contradiction: the more connected we become, the lonelier we are.” He then introduces the statistics of Facebook, how there are 845 million users and how in 2011, they generated about 2.7 billion likes and comments every day. This supports his claim that we are all “transfixed by the glare of a screen, hungering for a response” and that we are now what is known as the digital era. To create a timeline image he makes “Facebook arrived in the middle” capitalized to emphasize that human loneliness was on a rise. From then on he uses statistics and expert quotes to provide evidence about how slowly people are becoming distant due to isolation. Then Marche introduces how researchers have found that people who spend more time on Facebook are more likely to develop neurotic disorders, depression, or health conditions, such as narcissistic disorder. Overall the development and support of logos provides support to the thesis that overtime the digital era is causing more and more symptoms of
In Scott Brown’s essay Facebook Friendonomics, he discusses the idea of infinite friendspace and friend hoarding as allowed by social networks and what he calls the “networked world” (para. 3). In his essay, he mainly criticizes how these networks have turned people and relationships into a kind of social “currency” that follows the same rules as financial relations: more is better, but the more you have, the less worth each friend holds (para. 3). Friends are no longer people with whom one has a relationship or connection with -- instead they are simply collectibles that are infinitely preserved in the folder “Friend” (para. 2). Thus, social networks allow people to hoard friends through a kind of “friendonomics,” as people grow more and
T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats portray their characters as two men, who are trying to deal with the idea of loneliness. Both men are presently depressed with their existing lifestyles and crave to become a part of an entirely different state of affairs. As these authors present their characters desires to live a separate life from their recent one, Prufrock and the narrator (Yeats) take a different approach to expressing their ideas of loneliness. Eliot chooses to depict his character as an overly educated man, whose mental state is deteriorating because he longs for companionship, while Yeats chooses to depict his character as a man, who wants to live-out his childhood dream in solitude. Both authors show their characters as men who are trying to cope with their feelings toward seclusion.
Various studies such as one survey which concluded that the mean size of networks of personal confidants decreased from 2.94 people in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004. Similarly, in 1985, only 10 percent of Americans said they had no one with whom to discuss important matters, and 15 percent said they had only one such good friend. By 2004, 25 percent had nobody to talk to, and 20 percent had only one confidant (Bercovici). In addition, a 2010 AARP survey found that 35 percent of adults older than 45 were chronically lonely, as opposed to 20 percent of a similar group only a decade earlier (Marche). By analyzing all of this compiled data it is evident that the sense of loneliness is on the rise especially after the launch of Facebook in 2004. Thus this has led critics to correlate the increased use and number of Facebook users with the noted increase in loneliness. This in turn has led critics to hypothesize and condemn the social network as the not so social network and therefore believing that Facebook causes loneliness. But is this all
they are different, even though they are white. Lennie is very strong and big but his
People feel they are on top of the world due to the numerous friends that they have on their Facebook page. Having Facebook friends provides them with a sense of acceptance they had never experienced. These experiences are a gateway to a stream of emotions that has the potential to harm as well as to help. Social media has helped to emotionally feel connected and is an easy and efficient way to stay in contact with family and friends; however, it is harmful when it is the culprit for facilitating and fueling arguments and unhealthy relationships. “As the Danish academic Anders Colding-Jorgensen argues: ‘We should no longer see the internet as a post office where information is sent back and forth, but rather as an openarena for our identity and self-pro...
The majority of society has SNS’s, and some of these users are considerably lonely. But just because the statistics of loneliness and social networks are increasing at the same time does not mean the two are related. Loneliness is expected to become a growing trend in the next decade is because of the growing number of older individuals, not the advance in Social Networking Sites (Aarts, Peek, and Wouters 942). This rise of elders in society is a result of the Baby Boom era. During this period of time, an abnormally large amount of babies were born, and now these people are getting older. This means that there is a much larger population of elderly people than usual, and these older individuals are more likely to become depressed and lonely. Many losses come with old age, such as loss of a working atmosphere, physical mobility, or loss of a spouse/child (Aarts, peek, and Wouters 942). Each of these things can be responsible for feelings of loneliness and a reason behind growing loneliness. Also, quality of life is a major factory in whether or not loneliness becomes an issue in one’s life. Certainly a person who deems themselves to be successful, with a healthy marriage, children, and a stable job will not be as lonely as someone who does not. Social Networking sites do not cause people to become lonely when the factors outside of SNS’s have all the power to do
“Nothing is perfect.” Though social media brings us uncountable convenience, there is a trade-off with the convenience. Due to the advanced technology we have, social media has become part of our life, which it means that social media could determine our sociability. In Peggy Orenstein’s “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” though she praises Tweeter for its convenience, at the same time, she also worries that “(Tweeter) makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self.” Since we don’t care about who we talk to, we might act abnormally due to our feelings, and
Pauline Phillips stated “Loneliness is the ultimate poverty.” Throughout Of Mice and Men, this is proven to be true. Poverty is usually defined as being with little money. The word poverty reminds many of homelessness. Although poverty is not always defined in a financial sense. John Steinbeck describes loneliness as being the worst poverty someone could be in. Loneliness is evident and a main theme, in the novella, opposed to penury. Loneliness is displayed in multiple characters in various ways. Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy are all examples of characters affected by the ultimate poverty. Of Mice and Men takes place during the Great Depression, however, the characters acknowledge their severe loneliness more than the existing financial crisis. Steinbeck supports this idea through the loneliness of Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy in his writing.
“The Facebook Sonnet” by Sherman Alexie brings up ideas and controversy over social media because it decreases face-to-face communication. Though Facebook allows people to contact old and new friends, it renders away from the traditional social interaction. Online, people are easily connected by one simple click. From liking one’s status to posting multiple pictures, Facebook demands so much attention that it’s easy for users to get attach. They get caught up in all the online aspect of their lives that they fail to appreciate real life relationships and experiences. Within Alexie’s diction and tone, “The Facebook Sonnet” belittles the social media website by showing how society are either focused on their image or stuck in the past to even live in the present.
“I didn't know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time –Betty White (“Betty White Quotes,” 2014, para. 1).” This quote can be interpreted to fit with several of the social media avenues that many people spend their time on. Day in and day out people post, tweet, share, and pin countless times throughout the world. These different forms of communication were first created for an easier way for people to connect with others. Yet now, so much time is spent on these social sites that it has warped the interactive part and is causing more damage than good. Many are growing a desire and are living for the amount of “likes” they can receive on a post or how many re-tweets they can generate. Instead of going to these outlets to participate in a partial portion of their social lives, people are filling that time with the technological aspect of communication. As White said, this can become an inordinate amount of wasted time and can ultimately grow into further damaging circumstances. These different social media channels can cause emotional harm through disparaging the relationship between friends, conjuring of a narcissistic personality, and the retrogradation of ones self-esteem.
A question were I came across; I do believe that it does make us lonely, due to the fact that people are very intrusive and want to know what everyone is up too. “We want to learn about other people and have others learn about us.” Studies have shown when you don’t have your phone on you tend to feel lost and disconnected. College students without their phone for seconds become “crazy”. According to the Article “How Facebook makes people unhappy,” Kross found that the more people used Facebook in the between the second text they have received, they felt a sense of discomfort and unhappiness. Teenagers were more exposed to the new technology which means that they are more exposed to being lonely or even worse
In his essay with the headline “Facebook and the Epiphanator: An End to Endings?” written in July of 2011, Paul Ford states that new media hinders a person and all that they share from being anything more than a set of data. Ford explains the staunch differences between old media “the epiphanator” and more current forms of media. Ford examines the unconventional methods of social media, the way it transforms and intertwines, but never comes to an end. His only explanation for this strange shift is that “Facebook is generated by algorithms without feelings” (Ford 1). Conversely, old media, according to Ford, chronicles everything systematically with a beginning, middle, and an end. Ford describes “the epiphanator” as the balance of it all. He
Franzen, Axel. “Does the Internet Make Us Lonely?” European Sociological Review 16.4 (Dec, 2000). 428. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
which people communicate. How people form and maintain relationships are evolving in light of Internet-based technologies, most recently with the rise of social networking websites. Furthermore, these sites alter previously held beliefs related to identity formation and maintenance, as users may choose to share as much or as little personal information – whether true or fabricated – as they like with other users. These changes impact relationships in the offline world both positively and negatively. Although today people carry out their day-to-day relationships online, social media have weakened the meaning of friendship and emotional connections. In discussion of whether or not social media affects relationships positively or negatively, a differing viewpoint has been offered by William Deresiewicz in his essay “Faux Friendship” and Clive Thompson in his essay “I’m so digitally close to you”. On one hand Deresiewicz ridicules the use of online social networking in today’s society. On the other hand, Thompson contends and talks about how Facebook has positively changed the world.
Before technology, face to face communication was a normal everyday thing and loneliness was a problem that was rarely talked about or experienced. People went about their day without checking their phone every five minutes or so to see if anyone liked the status they posted or feeling lonely when nobody new liked it. In new studies more and more people have feelings of loneliness and depression. However, more people now use social medias such as Facebook, twitter and instagram. While it is true that technology mainly sites such as Facebook can lead to a person feeling alone, it is also true that it depends on how you use the technology, either to your advantage or as a depressant.