Carroll 1 Nancy Carroll Campbell English 1102 25 April 2014 Track Changes - Social Media: Infectious or Nutritious It is no question

that social media has changed the course of communication in the 21st century. Growing up with social media and the Internet has put a different aspect on my life compared to the generations before me. There have been instances in which I have made a friend online and did not meet them face-to-face until much later. But what effect has this anti-social behavior had on not only myself but also other students my age? Can social networking even be defined as anti-social behavior? Those who have grown up with social media tend to be more anxious when it comes to face-to-face communication considering they are accustomed to mediated conversations via technology. We rely on weak social media connections because most do not realize how much stronger our relations could be in the absence of a cell phone or computer. Overall, it is inevitable that social media has, and will, continue to change the course for personal relationships entirely. Eric James, president of the James Preservation Trust and publisher of Stray Leaves, author and lecturer, pointed out: never before has a person had more opportunity for social integration. More than ever, being inside or outside now is a matter of personal choice (qtd. in Anderson). Although the choice of social or anti-social behavior is ours, simple conversations between two people face-to-face are now rare while people are acclimatized to

Carroll 2 typing messages on a cell phone. Yes, we can communicate through the computer, but is this socializing, per se, if we cannot even read the body language of the other end of the conversation? Socializing is defined as: to make fit for life in companionship with others (socializing). Although social networks are created for social expansion, how do we explain the fact that 88% of teens have seen cyberbullying on social networks, or even worse, 90% of teens have reportedly ignored the bullying when they have seen it (Lenhart)? The ignorance of online cruelty does not make fit for life in companionship with others. According to Maura Keller in Social Work Today, with the release of the fifth edition of the DSM, Internet addiction will now be listed as a mental illness marked by emotional shutdown, lack of concentration, and withdrawal symptoms. The truth of this statistic is extremely frightening as approximately five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues compared to youth of the same age during the Great Depression, as studied by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge. Many teens are becoming depressed due to unhealthy amounts of social media and Internet use, along with the personalities and relationships they create for themselves online. As Dr. Richard G. Jones, Jr., Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Eastern Illinois University, discussed on his research blog, some users, especially adolescents, engage in what is called friend-collecting behavior, which entails users friending people they dont know personally or that they wouldnt talk to in person in order to increase the size of their online network. Many teens struggle to make friends at school, but as soon as

Carroll 3 they enter the online world they are able to become someone they may fail to be in a social setting. They obtain the ability to create profiles and describe themselves in ways that can possibly stretch the truth. Pictures can be edited to look nothing like the original copy. People generally feel more powerful online as they hide behind a computer screen. Teens go from a few real-life friends to thousands of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, addicting them as they compete in an online popularity contest. Knowing that someone is there in cyber space as your vicarious support system, reading your posts and sympathizing with your situations, thoughts and feelings genuinely makes you feel more valuable. Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, Nicholas Bowman, explains that: 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 (qtd. in Keller). Nowadays, young people often rise from insignificance to Internet fame depending on their posts as well as their number of followers. This form of self-presentation has teens hooked on social networking sites. People are often judged by how many followers they have, how many likes they receive on a photo and how many retweets they receive on a Tweet. Teens desire to be accepted and liked; they are hungry for this online appreciation. Professor Bowman continues to discuss how many of us caution that Internet addiction might be an inaccurate portrayal, as he proposes the question that, if social media is designed to connect people with people, then is it really a human-technology relationship or is it a human-human relationship mediated by

Carroll 4 technology? As a routine social media user, I have noticed that relationships are created, endured, and often ended through social media. Online dating has grown with social media as well. No longer do we have to meet people at the mall, in the grocery store or at the park. We can simply type in our interests and websites can calculate a match. In college, students often use this method in order to find roommates. However, teens tend to use networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to meet their significant others. Strangers can message each other on Facebook and be In a Relationship by the end of the week without ever meeting each other in person. Teens often fail to realize the danger in these methods like forging relationships, lying about personal information, stalkers reading your personal information, etc. (Lenhart). Talking to a stranger online is bound to be harmful when you cannot see who is at the other end of the conversation. If you do end up in a relationship, is it really official unless your Facebook status says In a Relationship? Teens especially feel that if their love is not proclaimed on the Internet, it cannot be true. Relationships of any kind often end because of social media as well. Significant others tend to become extremely jealous of each other when communicating with another person online. Also, teens tend to post about their relationship problems online for the world to see, which can cause tension when other people begin to put their two cents in. The problem that should be between two people then becomes everyone else on the networks problem as well. When meeting people on the Internet, their online lives often do not match up with their offline lives. If anyone wants to find out about the interests of a person someone is dating, they can just go to his/her Facebook page or follow his/her

Carroll 5 Tumblr, a great point I came across on the blog Life Love & Music; that cuts out the whole first date and learning about the basics of someone because its all on their website. This ruins the course of a relationship as social networking encourages people to have a greater number of much shallower friendships explains Gervase Markham, programmer for the Mozilla Foundation. People also tend to bond through posts by liking or sharing them. Instead of starting a conversation and asking how someone is we can just scroll down their timeline and read for ourselves, and this maintains the friendship even if you havent recently spoken to this person face-to-face. The creation of social networking sites was intended to promote the expansion of communication and a quick and easy exchange of knowledge, as authors Sebastian Bruque, Jose Moyano and Jacob Eisenberg explained in Individual Adaption to IT-Induced Change: The Role of Social Networks. They continued to report that: in dense informational networks, individuals can make use of a closely woven network of ties, with many links among the members, to keep each other informed about theproblems they encounter and the solutions they find. However, according to Mary Madden, Senior Researcher for the Pew Research Centers Internet Project, teens on social media sites tend to stay away from diversity and usually only follow people that share the same interests and beliefs as themselves, making it difficult to expand their perspectives and learn new information. Teens, especially, are infected by this epidemic, as most have never known what the world was like without social media. Social media has become a routine way of life, and as Paul Booth, Assistant Professor of Media and Cinema Studies in

Carroll 6 the College of Communication at DePaul University, explains: As a society well be okay weve always adjusted to new technology. So whether its wearable communication mediaor more cloud computing, well change and adapt. In agreement with Robert Cannon, senior counsel for Internet law, Federal Communications Commission founder and director: The tension between the net and social engagement will vaporizepeople do not ask if the telephone is an alienating social force. The phone is a utility supporting social life. Likewise, the net will come to be assumed as a utility for social life.

Carroll 7 Works Cited

Anderson, Janna and Lee Rainie. "The future of social relations." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Pew Research Center, 2 July 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Broque, Sebastian, Jose Moyano, and Jacob Eisenberg. "Individual Adaptation to ITInduced Change: The Role of Social Networks." Individual Adaption to ITInduced Change: The Role of Social Networks. Journal of Management Information Systems, 01 Dec. 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Jones, Richard. "Communication in the Real World: Blog. How Does Social Media Affect Our Relationships?: Interpersonal Communication in the Digital Age. Richard G Jones Jr., Ph.D, 12 May 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Keller, Maura. "Social Media and Interpersonal Communication." Social Media and Interpersonal Communication. Great Valley Publishing Co., Inc., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Lenhart, Amanda. "Romance Blossoms on the Internet, but There is Still Public Concern About the Safety of Online Dating." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Pew Research Center, 5 Mar. 2006. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Lenhart, Amanda, Mary Madden, Aaron Smith, Kristen Purcell, Kathryn Zickhuhr, and Lee Rainie. "Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Pew Research Center, 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Madden, Mary, Amanda Lenhart, Aaron Smith, and Alexandria Macgill. "Teens and Social Media." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Pew

Carroll 8 Research Center. 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. "socializing." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 29 Apr. 2014. "Social Media vs Personal Relationships. Life Love and Music. Life Love and Music, 27 Dec. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Twenge, Jean. Study: Students more stressed now than during Depression? USA Today. USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.