DIndia 1 Kendall DIndia Adam Padgett ENGL 1102 01/28/2014

The Impacts of Social Media and Technology

Within the last 10 years, social media and technology have expanded drastically, altering and changing our society along its way. These developments have had a variety of different impacts, both positive and negative. People today use social media and technology for a range of assorted reasons. The role social media plays in peoples lives differ depending on each individual. I personally use social media and technology to keep in touch with friends, share some memorable experiences, and stay up to date on particular things. Facebook is great for keeping in touch with old friends and sharing any important news. I also find it very useful for keeping up with certain things like my sorority, which uses Facebook to make important announcements every day. Things such as Instagram and Twitter I find to be the most beneficial when it comes to socializing and connecting with friends or peers. Unfortunately, with all the use of social media and technology, some controversial social problems have arisen. Some particular problems I have noticed with this new shift in society, is the lack of personal interaction it has created, and how it tends to consume our attention and time. Not to mention that it is undoubtedly distracting. I have noticed time and time again, when talking with peers, the lack of social skills they possess. Things such as not being able to get off their phones
Comment [AP1]: How do you mean useful? How are they replacing texting or a phone call in terms of usefulness?

DIndia 2 when conversing with someone face to face illustrate this. The amount of time social media and technology obtain from us is problematic as well. Everyone can relate to trying to get something done, but ending up distracted on Facebook for an hour instead. Another thought that concerns me is that this massive amount of time that we spend on social media and technology, is taking a mental toll on us emotionally. I feel that being so caught up in these instruments must influence our moods in some way. It is not uncommon to here about people becoming addicted to some form of social media or technology, which would directly relate to this. These unfavorable costs are simply part of the reality of our cultural shift with social media and technology. There is a wide assortment of affects and impacts that social media and technology are claimed to have on us, but many questions still exist about it including some I have myself. My first question that I would like to look into more instead of just going off my own personal experiences is How has social media and technology affected social skills in people? Even though I have made some of my own conclusions about this, I would like to find the real facts about it. Another rumor around is that social media and technology can affect your mood, so my second question is Does using social media have an impact on your emotions? I think this is an important psychological factor that should be investigated. I am interested in knowing if technology and social media are positively or negatively affecting my emotions; in a way that influences my moods, state of mind, or attitude. Maybe it could be something that is perhaps affecting my happiness on a daily basis so to speak. Something else that I, and I am sure many others, have wondered about, is the possible mental ramifications that social media and technology could have on younger children because they are not fully mentally developed
Comment [AP4]: Really good question here. but it makes me wonder what other kinds of skills are we losing? The printing press (and typewriters and computers) is a good example of how we really lost our penmanship. Comment [AP5]: Like a rumor that people are spreading? Not sure about this word choice here. Comment [AP6]: Or mood? Mood and emotion are two different things, right? Comment [AP3]: And so we should do notion about it? Comment [AP2]: Why put this word in quotation marks? Is it not real addiction?

DIndia 3 yet. We have all heard the saying that playing video games kills brain cells. Social media and technology could possibly affect their learning abilities, maybe even IQ. In relation to this speculation, my third and final question is, Does social media affect younger children differently than adults? I feel this is an important concept to look into and be aware of because it could have a serious impact on our younger generations. The answer to this question could result in some serious changes regarding parents the access to social media and technology that they allow their children to have. The answers to all of these questions likely have some important, beneficial answers that I believe are worth looking into. I expect my research to broaden my knowledge of social media and technologys affect on our society, and the recent cultural shift it has undergone. The answers to my questions will help reveal how big of an impact it truly has on us, and just how negative it really is. I predict that the answer to my first question will be that social media and technology most certainly has a negative impact on peoples social skills because of the lack of human interaction. I have found this through personal observation repeatedly, and will undoubtedly find evidence to support it. I also believe I will find the answer to my second question is that our emotions are somehow negatively impacted by social media and technology, perhaps not to a drastic measure, but to some degree. With the amount that social media and technology are used today, it must be affecting our disposition on some level. Finally, I think the answer I will find to my third question is that social media and technology affect children more than adults, in relation to their development. Again, through personal observation of the changes I have witnessed in our younger generations, this is another prediction that I am sure there is evidence to support it. Out of my three
Comment [AP8]: Im not sure what you hope to find here. I think obviously younger people likely are more plugged in, but Im not sure how you mean about how it affects them differently. Maybe you mean how does social media affect young, still developing kids as opposed to those who grew up without social media. Maybe you could be responding to the charged proposed in Digital Nation that we are raising the dumbest generation. Comment [AP7]: Ive heard that alcohol kills brain cells, but not video games.

DIndia 4 questions, I am anticipating that my thesis for my research paper will be about social media and technologys impact on emotion. I predict I will end up with this one because it interests me the most, and I also believe that the answer will be the most beneficial to me personally. Kendall, It seems to me that you are most interested in investigating social medias impact on social skills. Like I mentioned, it might be a good idea to not limit yourself to just sms impact on social skills, but other skills. Or maybe how technology in general has impacted various skills that we may be losing (memory for example is in the news). Also you might want to look at parasocial interaction as a potential place for new ideas. I do want you to be careful with interchanging words that cant really be interchanged. Emotions and moods are different ideas. I think emotions are reactions to immediate circumstances, while mood is more pervasive. For example I think a persons mood can influence what emotion they may or may not be feeling. These are some good ideas here, and I look forward to seeing how they develop.