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Alexyss Taylor

ENC1101

Prof. McGriff

October 31st, 2019

Social Media and Social Interaction

A never-ending debate among the public has been whether or not social media is causing

a decline in communication skills. Several think social media has opened up new ways of

communication, while many others believe social media has placed a damper on face to face

interactions. However, despite many believing that social media has limited the ways in which

people communicate, damaged the use of the English language, and has negatively affected

social interaction and vocabulary, social media may have done just the opposite.

Many believe social media has limited the ways in which people communicate. They

make the argument that the use of texting, phone calls, and social media apps such as Instagram,

Facebook, and Snapchat are the cause of declining face to face interaction. However, although

many stand on that side of the debate, others stand on a different side. Others believe that social

media has opened up new ways for communication and allows us to connect to the world around

us. You can simply send a text message or call someone to ask how they’re doing or if they

would like to hang out. You don’t have to wait till the next time you can see them. Social media

allows for the world to stay up to date on current events in the news and keep up with your

favorite celebrities. It allows you to search the web to further your knowledge of anything you
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would like to know about. Social media has opened up numerous ways of communication with

anyone and anywhere.

Another topic of discussion is how social media has damaged the use of the English

language. People claim texting is the main suspect when it comes to this argument. They will

use slang as their main point, claiming the use of sayings and abbreviations like “LOL”, “rlly”,

and “rn” is causing a fall in knowing how to spell correctly and appropiately use grammar. All of

these points can be refuted though by pointing out all of the good social media can and does do

for us. In “Is Texting Killing the English Language?”, John McWhorter writes “Texting has long

been bemoaned as the downfall of the written word, “penmanship for illiterates,” as one critic

called it.” The critic responsible for the quote he used basically claims that texting is the

“penmanship for illiterates” and although everyone uses slang words, social media is also used to

further knowledge. Just because many of us abbreviate words and use slang doesn’t mean we do

not have a large vocabulary. Social media purely advances our knowledge. We can use it to

search for the meanings of words or phrases, the spellings of words, and even for academic help

such as PDF files of books, writing help, and to understand certain mathematical concepts.

Lots of individuals also believe social media has negatively affected social interaction

and vocabulary. As many younger people use their phones for almost anything they can, the

older generation believes they’re interacting less and less with the people who are directly in

front of them. Those same people also believe as texting begins to be further and futher

integrated into our lives, that we’re losing out extensive vocabulary. However, pretty much none

of this is true. By being able to have ways to communicate with other people instead of just by

face to face interaction, we’re opening up new ways to talk to and keep our friends, family, and

even classmates up to date on the latest happenings in our individual lives. This also goes for our
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vocabulary. Although many of us, including everyone from teenagers to the older generations,

use slang words when we text, we still use higher vocabulary when we are speaking to each other

or when we are in a situation calling for fomal speech. We can use the internet and social media

to look up definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and the parts of speech. Social media can benefit us

more than it can hinder us.

Despite the constant ongoing debate of whether or not social media is negatively

impacting our lives and knowledge, it really is all up to what an individual uses the internet for.

It can be used for the good and the bad, but despite that, we can always use it to further our

knowledge and even ourselves. Everything we could ever want to know or see is at our

fingertips.
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Works Cited

McWhorter, John. “Is Texting Killing the English Language?” Time.com, April 2013.

Simmons, Andrew. "Social Media Helps Students Write

Better." Are Social Networking Sites Harmful?, edited by Noah Berlatsky, Greenhaven

Press, 2015. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010744227/OVIC?u=lincclin_sjrcc&sid=OVIC&xid=f

ddcf163. Accessed 29 Oct. 2019. Originally published as "Facebook Has Transformed

My Students' Writing—For the Better," Atlantic, 18 Nov. 2013.