Social Media is hurting society

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Emma Nelson
FYS 100
Harold Blanco
November 20, 2015
Social Media is Exploding
The key issues in this article include the idea that we hide behind screens and have a
“fear” of social interaction, social media is growing at a rampant rate and we have to learn as
much as we can in a small amount of time, and that our personal information can be spread to
anyone at anytime. Throughout the article, both points are very prominent. The issue of decrease
in human interaction comes first, but it is not applicable to everyone on social media. These
problems seem to only truly affect the “digital natives”. This broad term defines all people,
mostly the younger generation, who were born after the digital era began. “In a survey on
favored communication modes, people born between 1990 and 1999 said they prefer texting
above all other forms of communication, but in second place — tied with instant messaging and
phone calls — is communicating via Facebook. Strikingly, face-to-face conversation is the least
favored form of communication for the digital generation. That's a stark reversal of the survey
preferences voiced by each generational cohort born between 1946 and 1989. All those groups
put face-to-face conversation as their preferred conversational mode, and none even listed a
social media technology.” (Social Media Explosion).

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The second issue in this article discusses is our privacy slowly being taken away. It
begins by stating that many of us are aware of what we post on social media. For example, if we
post a picture on Facebook, chances are that a stranger or two will see it. Going deeper, it
explains how we never really think about people or companies delving much further into our
lives. A statement from the article that explains most people’s stance is: “People joke that
privacy is over, but I don't think they imagined that the disclosures would be so proactive.”
(Socail Media Explosion). For example, some workplaces will use social media to see if a
person is qualified to conduct themselves in a proper manner and are prepared to handle a job.
While not all companies do this, over half that did said that what they found jeopardized the
possible employee’s chances. Not mentioned in the article, however a similar statement was
brought up, a large issue of social media includes cookies. Arguments could go on for days
debating whether it is beneficial or not, it really depends on which side of the screen you are on.
Large companies would love it because it allows them to see into more detail who would want to
purchase their products and target a more specific group of people.
Continuing with the ideas of privacy, another issue social media brings up is, for slang,
cat fishing. Briefly discussed in the article, even a Notre Dame line backer became susceptible
to social medias confusing ways. He was under the impression that he was a part of a long, two
year relationship with a woman online who eventually dies of cancer. Eventually the linebacker
found out that the entire thing was a hoax and there was never a real woman to begin with. This
is just one of many stories of people hiding behind a screen pretending to be someone else.
Issues like the one stated above happen so often, there is even a show dedicated to it now.

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One final way social media is hurting society includes the rapid spreading of information,
whether it is true or not. Leading into the next topic, a major issue with social media is
censorship. In America, we have the freedom of speech, a privilege that many places do not
have. Since we are given that right, we can say whatever we want wherever we want to. For
example if a banker from California wanted to publish his findings on the newest species of
flower, he could. The information would more than likely be very inaccurate and misleading, but
he would be allowed to post it. Another example of freedom of speech includes what was
discussed in the earlier paragraph, cat fishing. While there is a show about it, not much of an
outcome can happen besides the person pretending to be someone they are not regretting their
actions. While it s highly frowned upon, it is not against the law to pretend to be someone else on
Faceboook.
Even though America has all this freedom through social media, other countries are not
as lucky. Countries like China and North Korea are under strict censorship. Not only are they not
allowed to post what they want, but they are also not allowed to see content that is published to
the content. They are not even allowed to go on Facebook because then they may become aware
of their situations, meaning the government would lose their power.
Finally three benefits of social media include a sense of togetherness, ideas being made
more shareable, and allowing people to explore and learn more things with the push of a button.
For example, the article even talks about that game “World of Warcraft” which is an online game
in which the players become a different person and they complete quests and can gain points all
while being accompanies by others playing the same game. Ideas are made more shareable by

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using the Web 2.0. “In Web 2.0, the universe of online “user-generated content” exploded. No
longer did a person have to commit to a time-consuming personal blog — which no one might
ever see — to be an online content creator.” (Social Media Explosion).
Overall, this article gives a very good definition of all the ways social media has affected
our society, for better and for worse. Social media for Americans is very different from social
media for people in non democratic countries and that can be a difficult thing to grasp. The main
point this article tries to make known is that social media is a weird, new thing that many of us
are still trying to get the hang of. Not much is solidly known about it, but we will never stop
learning.

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Emma Nelson
FYS 10
Harold Blanco
November 20, 2015
Social Media is Hurting Society
Social media is hurting our society for a plethora of reasons. One of which includes
violence in the media. “Besides watching television, today's children use computers, tablets and
smartphones to access movies, books, the Internet, video games and music — at any time.
Children ages 8 to 18 consume, on average, 10 hours and 45 minutes per day when the
simultaneous use of multiple devices is taken into account. By contrast, in the 1930s, children
were exposed to 10 hours of media per week”. (Media Violence) This statement shows that even
if one would like to argue that kids today are not more violent because of social media, it is hard
to argue that they are not affected by it. Too much interaction with things like violent video
games may not necessarily make a child more violent, but it makes them much more numb to
“feeling bad” about their actions, because it is what they are exposed to all day.
Another way social media is hurting out society is because once social media finally
because very prevalent, suicide rates skyrocketed. Once social media exploded, unrealistic
standards became even more apparent. It is a very difficulty topic to gather information from, but
it is undeniable that there is a very defined correlation between social media and suicide rates.

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While many companies, like Dove, have started campaigns to promote self love, the expectations
will never disappear. s