10.04).

Assignment: Making a Claim

English III

Alba Valverde Delgado

If you look around you right now, it will be hard for you to find someone who is not using

their cellphone. According to Paul Booth, there has been a change referring to

communication, since we rather email or text than meet face-to-face. Experts claim that

social media can also link to depression, social isolation, feelings of envy, insecurity, and

poor self-esteem. Social media has positive effects such as communicating with people from

other countries, however, it also has negative effects that affect negatively interpersonal

relationships, such as self-image issues and cyberbullying.

Humans use social media for many purposes, such as to search for information or to share

their thoughts. However, there are some studies that support that it has a huge impact on our

behavior. According to Nicholas David Bowman, an assistant professor in college at West

Virginia University social media allows for more contact, more communication, and in a

more public manner. For instance, if someone is bullied at school, it is not as hard to deal

with, however, if you are being cyberbullied, when you get home it does not get any better,

because cyberbullying is still there. It has been linked with an increased risk of depression,

which also proves that it has a negative effect on interpersonal relationships. This evidence

supports my claim owing to the fact that it states that social media can have a negative effect

on humans (such as cyberbullying), so that leads to jeopardizing interpersonal

communication.
Some individuals spend more time online than communicating with the people around them,

and that also affects negatively interpersonal relationships. According to Nicolas Bowman,

teens have been closing their accounts because it’s too much for them to handle. ‘’It may be

the parent checking his or her email during a family dinner or the young college student

updating Twitter while on a first date’’ says Bowman. ‘’For these people, they likely feel

such a strong sense of identity online that they have some difficulty separating their virtual

actions from their actual ones.’’ All this evidence supports my claim regarding the fact that it

proves that social media makes individuals have a hard time separating between the Internet

and their daily lives.

Given all these points, we are aware that social media can have a negative consequence on

our daily interpersonal relationships. As I explained, it increases cyberbullying and the risk of

depression and insecurities (among others). Plus, it can also deteriorate the relationships you

have with the people around you. So, if we don’t step up and do something about it, it is

going to take control of our relationships with others, and we cannot let social media do that!

Sources:

Great Valley Publishing Company, Inc. Social Media and Interpersonal Communication,

www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051313p10.shtml.

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7927&context=etd
Burch, Kelly. “How Social Media Affects Relationships, from Partners to Friends.” Insider,

Insider, 16 Mar. 2020, www.insider.com/how-social-media-affects-relationships.

Ultius. “The Effects of Social Media on Interpersonal Relationships.” Ultius,

www.ultius.com/ultius-blog/entry/the-effects-of-social-media-on-interpersonal-

relationships.html.