Is Facebook Making Us Lonely By Stephen Marche

The Complexities of Human Adaptation to Technology

The arrival of the digital age has made people change the way that they interact with one another. This change can be an unrelenting force for good, which connects people from all around the world spreading ideas and information. However, technology is criticized because of the supposed effects it has on the social lives of users. Supporters argue that technology enhances the lives of the people who use it, but opponents say that it produces miserable introverts out of normal people. Technology is made into a scapegoat for the preexisting introversion of its users; people are drawn to information technology because it has the ability to combat loneliness.

The article Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? by Stephen Marche examines how Facebook and social media affect the social habits of its users. It tells the story of Yvette Vickers, a former playmate and B-movie star who died in her home at the age of 83, with no family or friends to keep her company. In the last years of her life, she used the internet to find fans who wanted to talk to her and gave them a call. Vickers used technology to bring her some happiness in her old age; her

by Matt Richtel surveyed girls aged 8 to 12 and found that “those who say they spend considerable amounts of time using multimedia describe themselves in ways that suggest they are less happy and less socially comfortable than peers who say they spend less time on screens.” (Richtel par. 3) This study, while thought-provoking, is muddled by the discrediting flaws in technique used to gather the information. The study was conducted online, with girls whose ages were unverified and whom could not be reached to gather important context information. It is unknown then, whether girls who use technology heavily become unhappy as a result, or if girls who are unhappy to begin with are drawn to