Social media is forty percent of the population uses it. Something of this magnitude would obviously be deemed important because of how it impacts the world. With the amount of information of information that it out there it has become a target to many contradicting opinions. This leads to many different arguments. One argument that is made about social media is that it allows people to maintain and improve their relationships by keeping in touch and also allows people to create new relationships. According to an article written by Natasha Koifman, social media has the ability to enhance personal interactions.
One characteristic of special media is that it gives us time to think about what to say. If it were in a real life situation, there could be instances where people don’t know how to carry on the conversation which could result in awkward moments of silence. With social media, there is an allowed lag time which allows us to think of a clever response that will engage the other person. This can make us feel confident and allows us to present our best qualities that might not be apparent in a ‘normal’ face-to-face conversation.
Facebook, for example, allows you to reconnect with people that you may have lost touch with. In the case of reconnecting, you have a history with someone, but it might have been a while since you’ve last spoken so it may take awhile to find some new common ground. You are able to take time and think deeply about how you respond.
In this example of the argument, inductive reasoning is used to create a hypothetical situation in which conclusions are drawn from and can be applied to similar situations. An opposing argument would be how social media causes people to spend less time interacting face to face. It can be argued that social media can cause people to become ‘antisocial’ In an article from The Final Inquiry Project, it is said that social media has made society complacent to sitting behind a screen.
It includes a study that shows that people have less interest in interacting with other people both in similar age groups, and with people that are in other age groups. Social media has allowed people to interact with others, but without actually seeing them in person. It’s great that social media can connect people, but only to a certain point. People use the internet to bypass the nervousness that some may find in trying to start a relationship with another person. This leads people to try to avoid any awkwardness in a conversation. There is evidence that this does happen, but that doesn’t change the fact that it can also do the opposite by facilitating in-person interactions.
With the example of Facebook again, it allows people to connect with new people that may share a common interest. It gives people a platform that allows for them to reach out invite others in a face to face setting. In this example, observations from a sample and apply them to a population. Another argument about social media would be how the spread of information can be harmful, due to cyberbullying. Social media is used heavily by teeenagers who are more often than not victimized by their peers.
In the article, “Cyberbullying on Social Media Linked to Teen Depression”, Stephanie Pappas talks about social media and its potential effects of the mental health of adolescents. She states that there are studies that show consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression. She also talks about how those who are victims of cyberbullying are often reluctant to tell anyone about it. This is a problem that needs to be addressed, because of how serious these cases of cyberbullying can end. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for those who are cyberbullied to commit suicide.
Victims of cyberbullying could be subject to rumors that could easily be spread through the internet. In the article, “When Rape Goes Viral”, Ann Friedman tells the story of a girl who sexually assaulted at a party and evidence of her assault had been put on Facebook. It had been seen by almost all of her classmates and she was being taunted by it. She never told her parents or the authorities so at first, no one understood why she had committed suicide. This is a tragic example of what happens when information is quickly spread among people. There is also the argument of how social media can empower young people when the right information is circulated .
An article from Elite Daily talks about how social media is a form of activism that can be used by young people in order to promote change. In this case, social media is used to inform and educate this current generation of the current political, social, and economical issues. Social media not only taught them, but it also gave them the ability to respond and start a conversation. In my opinion, the use of these arguments seem to be indusive because of the nature of the topic.
This logic suggests the possible outcomes and doesn’t necessarily have a “right or wrong”. Some of these are hypothetical situations in which inferences were made about what might happen. There were other cases where actual studies might have led to certain conclusions.
