Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Taylor Haggerson
English 1104
experiment for a school project at their local high school. Their detox included giving up all
social media and instant messaging, except for methods of contacting their parents. According to
the article “An Anti-Social Experiment” posted by BBC news, students went the whole week
from Wednesday to Wednesday without using their phones for social media, and texting/instant
messaging. This included apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and even YouTube.
Students were wary about making it through the weekend without their phones for support. As
the author of the article Rory Cellan-Jones states, “…if your primary means of communication is
taken away that is bound to cause problems. Twenty-five years ago, teenagers would have been
furious if they had been told they could not use the home telephone.” (BBC News). However, the
students and teachers around them were interested to see what they would learn. One student
found that without her phone she talked more with her family, rather than using her parents as
Without their phones, students resorted back to landline phone calls, and emailing as
means of communication. The librarian at their school was happy to finally see people checking
out books to read. One student even began reading newspapers and magazines. Jones states that
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overall, “…what this experiment has shown so far is just how central to the lives of teenagers
One teacher before the experiment stated that, “The thought of having real conversations
and maybe even reading a book seems to be way too much to handle.” (BBC News). That has
become something many teenagers do not participate in. Most importantly the digital age has
changed the way people interact with each other. Much like when the student began talking more
to her parents when her phone was removed from the equation.
more people are connected. A relationship can consist of a significant other, but also of a mother
and daughter, a best friend, or a sibling. Relationships can even consist of a man and his
volleyball, much like in the movie Cast Away when Chuck becomes stranded alone on an island.
Relationships are a true measure of just how important connections are to humans. However,
relationships are now becoming virtual based, friends online, and ‘followers’. The term
relationship is constantly advancing to more platforms. So, how is social media changing
relationships?
According to my parents, before the digital age, it was common for teenagers to use their
landlines to call their friends and make plans for the weekend. If they didn’t pick up, then they
would drive to one of the three common hang-out spots in their area and see who they ran into. If
they wanted to contact a distant friend or relative, they sent them a letter via snail mail (that was
before email). If someone wanted to stay up to date on the news, they read the paper, or watched
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the morning and/or evening news on television. There was no Twitter or Facebook to rely on for
Social media didn’t come into fruition until 1997, when a website called Six Degrees
gave users the ability to friend other users. This was the start of networking through the digital
world. “From Six Degrees, the internet moved into the era of blogging and instant messaging.
Although blogging may not seem like social media precisely, the term fits because people were
suddenly able to communicate [their thoughts] instantly [and to] other readers.”
(Historycooperative.org). From Six Degrees to Snapchat, with each changing media interface,
There is a term ‘ontological design’ that best described the way in which society has
become more reliant on technology. Think of the Drawing Hands by M.C. Escher, each hand is
without it they wouldn’t know what to do. Figure 1:Drawing Hands,M.C. Escher
So, what was life like before social media? An article posted by Social Media Week
written by Tereza Litsa, explains how the memories of her life before technology are strange to
think about, even though the memories are still there. “If I had to describe in one word the first
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memory I have about life before the internet, I would choose ‘silence’. Silence was not literal,
but rather metaphorical, since we didn’t have to deal with all the social media buzz and the noise
that may turn distracting from time to time.” Much like Litsa, people who remember twenty-five
years ago have a good understanding of how they and the people around them have changed by
The original purpose of social media was to network people. For example, LinkedIn is
used on a specifically professional basis, but nonetheless it is there to connect a person with
another throughout a specific work industry. The convenience social media has created with
communicating has helped families connect throughout different parts of the world. There is no
doubt that social media has been innovative in finding ways to keep people connected. The world
With as many advantages social media has to offer, there are equally as many
disadvantages. And while many are aware of dangers on social media such as catfishing or risk
of information being stolen, many other more long-lasting dangers are overlooked. Social Media
users have failed to see the dangers in what social media is actually offering them;
communication.
authentic conversation. In a Forbes article titled, “Is Social Media Sabotaging Real
Communication?”, the author Susan Tardanico states that, “[s]tudies show that only 7% of
communication is based on the written or verbal word. A whopping 93% is based on body
language.” This means that emotions can not fully be expressed under the restrictions of social
media relationships.
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Tardanico describes an incident occurring in October of 2017, Sharon Seline had been
texting her daughter who was away at college. Although the text conversation was brief,
Sharon’s daughter explained to her mother that everything was going well, responding with
positive texts of light-hearted moods. The next day however, Sharon’s daughter had attempted
suicide. Her mother was shocked to learn the news and could not believe that what her daughter
had actually been feeling was masked by “…emoticons showing smiles, b-i-g smiles and hearts.
Happiness.” (Tardanico).
Her mother soon learned that her daughter had instead, “been holed up in her dorm room,
crying and showing signs of depression—a completely different reality from the one that she
conveyed in texts, Facebook posts and tweets.” (Tardanico). But hiding emotions isn’t the only
In a study published in 2012, called the “Effects of Anonymity, Invisibility, and Lack of
Eye-Contact on Toxic Online Disinhibition”, the behaviors of a group of people were observed
and recorded throughout the course of their social media usage compared to their behavior not
using social media. To start off, disinhibition is defined as “a lack of restraint manifested in
disregard for social conventions, impulsivity, and poor risk assessment.” (Lapidot-Lefler).
The study was conducted with 142 participants with 50 percent male and 50 percent
female. Their ages ranging from 18 to 34 and their interests differing greatly. “…we further
hypothesized that anonymity (independently and in interaction with the other factors) would
show the strongest effects [of flaming behavior], followed by invisibility and then the lack of
eye-contact.” (Lapidot-Lefler). This means that anonymity, such as social media, would
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The study states that, “[l]ack of eye-contact plays a major role in triggering behaviors
related to negative online disinhibition.” Imagine a teenager, lacking confidence in person but is
able to hide that behind their social media accounts. “The toxic aspect of disinhibition has been
shown to cause various problematic behaviors in cyberspace, such as flaming and a negative
atmosphere.” (Lapidot-Lefler). Without the ability to see in person who they are connecting with
through social media, this teenager is more at risk of developing harsher behaviors online. This
The results of the study, “…show that eye-contact has a significant main effect on
threats. …Invisibility was found to affect behavioral disinhibition both over the Internet and in
offline communication.” This proves the researcher’s hypothesis in triggering flaming behavior
Social media is changing how people communicate with one another. As Litsa, from
Social Media Week, states about her life before social media, “…communication was more
personal, face-to-face contact had to be less awkward, while our mind functioned in a completely
different way, being obligated to retain information, focusing on one task at a time.”. Today, all
of those skills have now been lost, due to the undesired want to make conversation. Imagine that
93% of communication used that cannot be demonstrated through the written and verbal word.
As Tardanico, from Forbes, states, “…we are now attempting to forge relationships and make
decisions based on phrases. Abbreviations. Snippets. Emoticons. Which may or may not be
accurate representations of the truth.” Where would that 93% of communication even go?
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A coffee house, named HotBlack Coffee Cafe in Toronto, has recently declined to offer
free Wi-Fi to its customers. The owner Jimson Bienenstock explains that, “his aim is to get
customers to talk with one another instead of being buried in their portable devices.” His
reasonings for this change derives from the correlation of health and longevity to social
interactions. Positive social interaction will lead to a longer, healthier, more fulfilled life.
Obviously, humans need relationships. This is evident in the movie Cast Away starring
Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland who becomes stranded alone on an island and develops a
relationship with a Wilson volleyball. Because there was no one else around him, the human
relationship he needed was instead compensated by the volleyball he named Wilson. As much as
humans need this connection to other people, this movie shows that humans are capable of
replacing people to whatever they think will make them happier. This is evident in more ways
than just social media. For example, people replaced their families with work. But in the majority
of cases, society is becoming consumed by social media. People are becoming replaced by the
superficial portrayal of themselves online. Rather than a one real friend, a person can have 560
In contrast to the movie Cast Away, societies usage of social media can soon become next
to exactly like the society portrayed in Wall-E. This is a movie that portrays a society in which
everyone knew everyone, yet nobody knew anyone. This cartoon movie about one robot being
the only thing left on Earth, portrays how dirty humans have left their world. But in another less
portrayed lens, yet a still very relevant aspect of the movie Wall-E shows how society has
conformed to floating around in a chair all day on social media and talking online with their
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friends. It isn’t until two people literally bump into each other that they start to authentically
With a more specific focus into human interactions and why relationships are important,
there are two examples provided in an article posted by Psychology Today titled, “Why We Need
Each Other”:
[Example 1] John lives alone but is very social. He has many friends with whom he
spends a lot of time and sees frequently. However, he feels sad and disappointed because
his friendships don’t seem to meet his needs. He doesn’t derive a sense of connection to
others and a feeling of satisfaction. Despite his busy social life, he feels alone and
[Example 2] Albert lives alone and has two close friends whom he sees
occasionally. When he meets with them, he has a good time talking about current events
and sports as well as each other’s thoughts and feelings regarding their lives. When he
is not at work or in the company of others, Albert does not feel lonely because he spends
time engaging in activities that interest and energize him. (Psychology Today)
John and Albert both seem to live alone and have friends, Albert is fulfilled with the
minimal friends he has. According to the article, “how much social connectedness a person needs
influences how much aloneness they can tolerate.” (Psychology Today). John is not receiving
enough ‘social connectedness’ with the friends he has. Rather, his relationships, compared to
Albert’s relationships are superficial. “Humans, because of necessity, evolved into social
beings.” Despite people thinking that they only need themselves, the nature of our desires to
affiliate with others will leave a void if not fulfilled. (Psychology Today).
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Authentic relationships are the few friendships that fill the social connectedness. Social
media becomes many surface level relationships used to keep a person busy, that is until they are
The simplest solution would not be to remove social media all together. Social media
plays too large of a part in society to be suddenly taken away. Like the ontological design,
Instead, people and especially young teens should be more aware of their actions on
social media. Teenagers specifically are an impressionable kind to work with. Their growing and
development will be influenced by the way in which they are introduced to the world. Parents,
adults and the teens themselves should be aware of their behavioral changes, and the amount of
virtual to authentic relationships they have. They should regularly practice the art of conversation
and make eye-contact. Most importantly, families and friends should take at least an hour out of
their day to turn off all technology and social media accounts. The more this action is done, the
more it becomes habitual. People should sit down with the ones they love, ask them about their
Works Cited
Brody, Jane E. “Social Interaction Is Critical for Mental and Physical Health.” The New York
www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/well/live/having-friends-is-good-for-you.html.
Cellan-Jones, Rory. “An Anti-Social Experiment.” BBC News, BBC, 8 Mar. 2016,
www.bbc.com/news/technology-35752625.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing_Hands.
Keith. “The History of Social Media: Social Networking Evolution!” History Cooperative,
Litsa, Tereza. “Do You Remember Life Before The Internet?” Social Media Week, 25 June 2015,
socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/06/life-before-internet/.
Tardanico, Susan. “Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication?” Forbes, Forbes