Does Technology Make Us More Alone?
By: Noah Muirhead
Does Technology Make Us More Alone?
Technology Is supposed to make us all connected, but is that really the outcome of our smartphones and technology? I think that technology has made many of us more alone and isolated than usual.
"I Forgot My Phone"
In a two minute video on youtube, that has been viewed more than 15 million times, begins with a couple lying in bed. The woman stares silently as her boyfriend pays no attention to her and checks his smartphone. In the following scenes, we follow the woman through a day that is quite dystopian; her friends ignore as they stare at their phones during lunch, at a concert, while bowling, and at a birthday party and where the man who is having this special day celebrated, is recording it on his phone. The video ends with the woman lying in bed with her boyfriend and again, he is still using his smartphone.
The video makes for some discomforting viewing. It’s a direct hit on our smartphone-obsessed culture, needling us about our addiction to that little screen and suggesting that maybe life is just better led when it is lived rather than viewed. While the clip has funny scenes — a man proposing on a beach while trying to record the special moment on his phone, it is mostly sad.
Effects Of Social Media on Antisocial Behavior
There have been two studies on adolescents that suggests that social media and Internet use can lead to more negative behaviors towards others. Because of this people can lose friends and have people avoid them so no one would want to hang out and talk to them resulting in antisocial and isolated behavior. Another study shows that if you spend more time on social media than you spend time with people leads to more focus on yourself. and given this social media could lead to arrogance as well, it possibly leads to less focus to 0 focus on others as well.
Impersonation
Many people have used impersonation against other people. They have also used it to mask their actual identity and try and be someone else. Because of this people have made fake accounts of other people and start trash talking them, pretending to be them and have tried hacking into their account to "seek revenge".
^ Sources
Article Names: Effects Of Social Media On Antisocial Behavior, Does Online Social Media Lead to Social Connection or Social Disconnection? and Digital Stress: Adolescents' Personal Accounts
Conclusion
My conclusion is that Social Media allows students to expand their network of "friends," but may lead to them having fewer in-person friends.