Mejia 1!

Jillian Mejia

Prof. Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

3 October 2017

Socially Antisocial

Social media smart phone applications such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and

Snapchat are gaining higher prevalence across the nation due to their better means of

communication. Each network encourages the idea of faster contact through the Internet as it

allows an individual to contact family, friends, and even strangers across the globe through a few

simple clicks on a digital screen. Though, are these easily accessible works of communication

really contributing to a more social society? The modern generation claims that smart phones and

social media contribute to a more social society, though it is deeming that they are

unintentionally creating a more anti-social commonality. As media users believe they are

forming more popular and social identities through the virtual world, they do not recognize that

they are becoming less interactive and skilled with face-to-face conversational skills.

The introduction of smart phones results in the separation of individuals and the outer

community as they become incapable of maintaining in-person communication with one another.

Kelly Coffey, a personal trainer and writer, believes that because smart phones are so

convenient, it is very easy for people to get distracted, which does not help our social

skills (Coffey). Coffey implies that through the usage of current-day technology, humans

becoming less socially active with one another. When a family is sitting at a table for dinner, it is

highly likely to see one member either scrolling through their Twitter feed, checking their e-
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mails, or Snapchatting the food they have ordered. It is frequent that as a smartphone rings,

dings, or vibrates, an owners attention from their physical environment will divert as they will

begin to feel the need to know what is happening in the online world instead. This results in

individuals retaining a constant desire to check their technological devices to be socially and

mentally aware of the virtual community, eventually leading them into adopting a dire instinct to

always use their phones as a sense of comfort. As the demand for the Internet increases, the sense

of face-to-face conversation begins to hit a downfall while the idea of face-to-screen association

rises. Though individuals are virtually connected, they become physically disconnected and

unaware of their surroundings and the genuine people that may be engulfing them. As excessive

social media and phone usage enhances the lack of real-life conversation, it grants shyer people

to remain hidden behind a screen as they are not encouraged to step out of their comfort zones

and branch out to meet new people.

The demand of technology aids introverts in hiding behind virtualized masks without

encouraging them to converse with the physical society. This is a critical issue amongst this era

because individuals are dehumanizing themselves and not interacting with the world like they

once did when items such as smart phones, tablets, and computers did not exist. In Mucan and

Nihans article Relationship Between Personality Traits and Social Media Use, the authors

reveal a study that showcases how adolescents communicate with more people via social media

than they do in their real life (Mucan and Nihan). Mucan and Nihan imply that the youthful

generation highly prioritizes smartphone apps as a means of communication, where each

member of the online community socializes through a screen instead of valuing constant in-

person confrontation. In the majority of all communities, media users are too caught up in their
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online presence and reputation rather than their real life one. Factors that contribute to

technological and social dependence include age, location, time, convenience, and even personal

matters like insecurity. Technology makes it capable for individuals to showcase themselves

through pictures, characters, and videos through the best images possible, though their physical

looks and personalities may not match up to their virtual, social identities if a person were to

meet another face-to-face. Access to technology enhances the possibilities of communicating

with a catfish, a person who adopts a fictional reputation for themselves. The Internet along

with their new photo editing applications that allow individuals to alter their faces and bodies

contribute to people developing false identities where they are portrayed as more perfect, slim,

and visually appealing to other individuals because the public will never see what they

authentically look like. They will only be exposed to the online version. In this generation, all

that matters is the amount of likes and follows a person has, but not a sense of actual connection.

Social media more so creates ghosts and not genuine beings who socialize with each other

outside a screen. This degrades proper human characteristics and results in undeveloped

conversational skills and the lack of physical confrontation because it is viewed as too difficult.

The media intensifies an individuals lack of social skill, though the general public is still

attracted to it because of its benefits.

An individuals online presence is important because it brings a sense of validation,

comfort, and enhances easily accessible communication with family, friends, and strangers,

though it still negatively affects an individuals social skills. Smart phone applications such as

Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are highly valued for convenient conversational purposes,

though what is not recognized is that users are virtually connected, but not physically. An

anonymous author addresses another cultural piece: that [individuals] are more and more
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connected but not necessarily more invested in each other's lives, claiming that the online

community is visually invested without being emotionally compassionate for one another.

Instagram users may view self portraits, videos, and messages from users who are both local and

distant. Though, both the viewers scrolling through the posts and the actual posters do not benefit

from this activity because the majority of them do not know more of each other beyond a picture.

It is prevalent that the use of technology and social media is advantageous because it helps

society connect by being able to know news and see what others are doing without physically

being around them, but it is disadvantageous because most individuals do not make further

advances into venturing beyond a screen and communicating with users they follow or friend

online. This exemplifies how social media is increasing the rates of anti-social behaviors

amongst individuals, and how humans are digressing and losing their abilities to communicate

effectively with others because they adopt the idea that virtual interaction is enough to satisfy a

relationship. Modern day communities do not invest physical time into each other, but instead

consider a double tap on a screen as the best means and efforts of communication.

Though social media has a positive impact on society because it helps individuals with

their self confidence and is a convenient passage of communication with others who are

thousands of miles away, it is majorly negative because it is degrading important human qualities

such as conversational skills and optimism. The introduction of smartphones into the

industrialized community has only resulted in the lesser socialism of our once social society. As

individuals are constantly glaring at the glass screens in their palms, they forget the importance

of looking up at the people in front of them. The current generation is forgetting the

characteristics of compassion, self-worth, and happiness as individuals begin to believe cellular

devices, tablets, and laptops encapsulate their ideas of pure bliss. Though, what is not recognized
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is that technology enlightens a form of temporary bliss, not a forever one. Social media users in-

person confrontational capabilities are declining as they consider online interaction more

valuable that developing real life identities and relationships with the people around them. If the

industrialized society takes a moment to moderate their phone usage and spend time with one

another beyond a screen, they will notice that the benefits of face-to-face contact outweigh any

face-to-screen interactions made. Predominantly communicating through the Internet does not

benefit a person because it heightens their online identity, but causes there physical one to

deteriorate and be nearly nonexistent. Social media is the escape for the anti-social, and the

escape from it should begin now.

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Works Cited

Coffey, Kelly. Social Media? More Like Anti-Social Media for This Generation. University

Wire, 2014. Global Newsstream. Accessed 25 September 2017.

Mucan, Burcu and Nihan zgven. The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Social

Media Use. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, vol. 41, no. 3,

2013, pp. 517-528. ResearchGate, doi:10.2224/sbp.2013.4.3.517. Accessed 25 September

2017.

"The Antisocial Side of Social Media." Toronto Star, 2011. Global Newsstream. Accessed 25

September 2017.