Jacob Levan

Adam Padgett
ENGL 1102
3/10/14
Annotated Bibliography
Inquiry: Does social media have more of a negative effect on people than a positive effect?

Proposed thesis: Social media causes more problems than it is worth.


Shinton, Sara. "#betterconnected-a Perspective on Social Media." Analytical & Bioanalytical
Chemistry. 402.6 (2012). Print.

Sara Shinton makes it clear in her article that she is a big fan of the use of social media.
Shinton makes the statement social media has real value and enables me to achieve more
than I could through conventional dissemination alone, providing her full support to the
idea. Although I agree that social media can indeed be a very positive thing when used
correctly, the issue still remains that millions of users refuse to participate in it without
feeling the need to cause problems. I feel that there is far too much conflict present in
social media to be able to enjoy it. Shinton also argues that social media allows people to
see a more rounded and accurate picture of [her] personality. I agree with this to an
extent. If it was my article, I would reword this statement to say that it provides a more
exaggerated picture of my personality. I say this because people tend to be much more
brave and outgoing over the Internet than they would ever be in real life, especially with
total strangers. I think that people say many things on Twitter and Facebook than they
would dare to say in a real-life situation. This very thing is what causes so many issues
among social medias avid users.

Comment [AP1]: Okay, good I like you
assertion here, but can you frame your
opinion more specifically here? What central
problem(s) will you be discussing in your
paper.
Comment [AP2]: What kind of conflict are
you talking about? Also, since you are in
control of who you are and arent friends with
(especially on facebook), dont you have a
level of control over the amount of confliction
you deal with on social media?
Comment [AP3]: I really like your level of
engagement here. I think this exemplar of
how you should be participating in the
conversation. But Id rather you offer your
point of view outright as opposed to revising
the sources wording. Might seem more
pedantic than you intend.
Cosoi, C. "The Evolving Threat of Social Media." Computer Fraud & Security. 2011.6 (2011):
14-16. Print.

In this article, Cosoi notes the dramatic increase in the volume and speed at which
cyber-threats are being created, due to the excessive use of social media in todays
world. I completely agree with this statement. At any given time, the average Twitter or
Facebook user can view their feeds and it will come as no shock to them to find someone
saying something negative or degrading about someone else. It is not the least bit unusual
among the social media world. There are millions of social media-based arguments in
progress right this second that will probably never extend beyond the Internet. These
conflicts are immature, counterproductive, and far too frequent. Cosoi also points out that
an online network of individuals actively sharing their experiences and seeking
connections with other like-minded people can be easy prey for hackers. This statement
exposes the fact that social media websites arent nearly as private as their creators
claim. These accounts get hacked regularly and hackers often post and say things
representing the actual owner of the account in a negative or offensive way.
Everett, C. "Social Media: Opportunity or Risk?" Computer Fraud & Security. 2010.6 (2010): 8-
10. Print.

Twitters 140 character limit on posts causes people who post links to other websites to
often have to shorten the links by the use of websites like Bit.ly. This causes other users
to have no indication of where the link will actually take them if clicked on. Everett says
that this makes it even more difficult for Twitter users to know whether the URLs they
have received are legitimate. This allows for the posting of websites leading to viruses
and other harmful pages under misleading contexts. The article also says that by clicking
Comment [AP4]: Im not sure what you
mean here.
Comment [AP5]: But arent these instances
usually quickly and nearly immediately
ameliorated once the account holder realizes
the hack?
on links sent from seemingly legitimate friends, they become vulnerable to malware
infection from drive-by downloads.
McBride, DL. "Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents," Journal of
Pediatric Nursing. 26.5 (2011): 498-9. Print.

McBride, a Nurse Practitioner and writer for a pediatric nursing journal gives her
negative opinion of social media and several statistics to back it up in this article. She
states that children and adolescents are at risk as they navigate and experiment with
social media, due to the fact that a big part of their brains development is going on
while they are engaging in things on the Internet. She lays out several of the risks that
social media brings on, including frequent online expressions of offline behaviors, such
as bullying, clique forming, and sexual experimentation. I agree because social media
surely leads to several offline problems, especially among the younger population.
"Social Networking ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. ProCon.org, 5 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb.
2014.

This article comparing several of the pros and cons of social media states that students
who are heavy social media users tend to have lower grades. According to the article,
students who use social media had an average GPA of 3.06 while non-users had an
average GPA of 3.82. This illustrates the massive distraction that social media has
become. Students spend so much time scrolling through their social media feeds that they
have that much less time to do school work and study. The article also points out the
effects that social media use has on the productivity of employees. Even spending just
30 minutes a day on social media at work could cost a 50-person company 6,500 hours of
productivity a year, the article stated. Social media has become far more of a distraction
than a useful tool, especially in recent years.
Comment [AP6]: But havent these things
always existed?
Jake,
I think you have done some really good research here. The conversations that you present are
compelling and engaging and I am really interested in how you will synthesize these
conversations in your research paper. Although, for some of these sources, Im not getting a clear
enough sense of your point of view, or how your voice fits into the conversation. For example, I
felt that your annotation for the McBride article seemed very short and very much like you were
reporting the facts as opposed to being an active participant in the conversation. Simply agreeing
or disagreeing isnt quite enough. What are the implications of some of these claims or findings?
How will these ideas connect to your thesis? Really good work here, but I still want to see more
engagement in the conversation.