Is Social Media Causing a Loss of Real Human Connection

Most people consider social media valuable to their lives; however, the increasing use of social media has resulted in the loss of verbal communication skills. Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist at MIT, strongly argues that social media is causing a loss of real human connection. Turkle explains the difference between texting and face to face conversation clearly; each has a very distinct range. Texting conveys no emotion or feeling towards the person reading the text. In the second half of the article, Turkle raises the issue of young children having cell phones at an early age, and parents are more concerning when their children are not around. Parents who take full control their children’s lives by texting them several many times a day. As a result, children often receive less privacy than they require. Turkle also complains that adults have not taught “the sense of privacy” formally to young people, who readily share their identities and personal information on Facebook without realizing that this can be an issue. Specifically she states “this sense of the Facebook identity sort of as your-something that follows you all your life is something that many adolescents feel is a burden”. She implies that the only solution is the voluntary self-conscious decision of any individual to value his own privacy or someone else’s.

Turkle claims that social media transforms our views of ourselves and the way we interact socially. Her arguments about student attention in the classroom and fewer people being concerned about their privacy are very persuasive. However, Turkle does not note the positive impacts of social media, such as improving education and providing useful, practical applications.

Turkle enforces a very strict rule in her...

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...and make posters about the events in which we would later on participate in. Having a study group on “Facebook” is convenient; we do not need to have a physically group meeting, so we can save our time for study other classes, and it is much efficient than making phone calls or even sending emails.

Turkle warns her readers that social media can contribute to the loss of communication between individuals. Therefore I strongly suggest parent’s involvement. Parents should be willingly involved guides and role models. They must always know which sties and applications their children are using. Teacher should prohibit texting in order to ensure a better learning environment. Social media is admittedly an essential tool for our society. The real challenge leaves over of how we cannot completely ignore the negatives of this tool; we must acknowledge how to use it properly.