Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

In Stephen Marche’s ”Is Facebook Making us Lonely”, the author starts with an grabbing or interesting story that made headlines about a women named Yvette Vickers. He uses this anecdote to grasp the reader’s attention. Moreover, the writer is trying to appeal to the audience about loneliness. In the text it says “Social Media-from Facebook to twitter- has made us more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, new research suggests that we have never been lonelier”. The author presents his argument and gives some factual evidence for the argument. Moreover, he compares his views with others. He gives the readers a problem that many people face nowadays is loneliness. Marche informed “Despite its deleterious effect

Social media, like Facebook and Twitter seems to be growing popular worldwide in the last few years. Have you found yourself or someone else in an awkward situation and instantly pull out your phone to scrawl through Facebook or Twitter just to keep from talking to someone in the elevator or doctor’s office? Is social media like Facebook and Twitter making us lonely human beings? One man, Stephen Marche, wrote “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” published in May of 2012 issue in The Atlantic thinks that social media might play a role in it alongside with other things.

In the article, Is Facebook Making Us Lonely by Stephen Marche, the author claims that social media makes people become lonely. Marche’s article conducted vast amounts of research to support his claim. He presented many strong points in his article about on people becoming lonely due to the effects of social media. Although this article presented data on his claim of the increasing number of people becoming isolated, this article shows irrelevant research the data doesn’t necessarily prove his statement that social media is the cause of people’s loneliness, which consequently weakens his claim. that weakens his argument because the data doesn’t proveon people becoming isolated without the use of social media. which weakens his argument.

In Stephen Marche’s article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” points out many reasons to which social media is making us lonely. One reason why social media is making us lonely is because we are so focused on the internet and we forget what is going on around us. Another reason is because we can see how our friends on Facebook are having a great life and we become lonely because our life is not as interesting as theirs. Even though I disagree with the author’s conclusion that social media is making us lonely, there is ample evidence to support my belief that the internet can also be a tool for communication.

In the reading, “Connectivity And Its Discontents,” by Turkle, the author contends that social media defends people against loneliness. She also states, that it controls the intensity of connections of how people connect with other people, and create ease to communicate and disengage if people wanted to. For example, he states, “We discover the network—the world of connectivity—to be uniquely suited to the overworked and over scheduled life it makes possible. And now we look to the network to defend us against loneliness even as we use it to control the intensity of our connections. Technology makes it easy to communicate when we wish and disengage at will” (190-191). Therefore, people using social media to communicate is good because people might have a busy life style that doesn’t allow them to spend time meeting with their friends. It also provides an outlet against loneliness because some people might not have many friends, and social media allows them to connect easier with people they can’t see through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other forms of social media. It’s better for people to be open with other people online. People are able to socially interact with other people all over the world using computers, cell phones, and even tablets. The technology today doesn’t limit people from communicating, and web browsing to their hearts content. Social media and the technology

In an argumentative essay, the author can write about the topic he or she is most interested in to try to persuade people to be on his or her side. Authors can use any of the many written strategies that exist to make his or her essay credible to the audience. Some authors use more than one rhetorical tool in their essays, while others keep their essays simple. It really does not matter how many rhetorical tools an author uses; all that it matters is how the author uses them to accomplish his or her goal of persuading the audience. For instance, in “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche, the purpose is to aware his audience from The Atlantic, magazine where it was first published, that technology and social media such as Facebook are making people lonely. Marche’s audience in this case is people with a high level of education most likely with a profession, and therefore, with high income. His median age audience for printed copies is 53 years old, and his median age audience for people who prefer digital copies is 41 years old. The Atlantic’s audience is more males than females as in the printed and the digital copies. Most of the articles published in The Atlantic’s are topics of global politics, business and technology, health topics, and education for its audience is more into politics, businesses, and the American culture. The types of voices that Marche uses are sad and worried. For example, Marche says, “We meet fewer people. We gather less. And when we

The essay Stephen Marche wrote “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely” is talking about with the technology what the society looks like now, and social media like Facebook and twitter have made us more densely network than ever.

Social networking sites (SNSs) have made up an important area of research for those interested in online communication technologies and their impact on individuals interactions (Steinfield, Ellison & Lampe, 2008). The use of these technologies are said to have mixed effects on loneliness and connectedness. While these sites create a more convenient avenue to stay in contact with people (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007) they also limit the depth of genuine relationships (Kraut et al., 1998). It is difficult to determine whether it is these SNSs that are making people lonely or whether these sites are reconfiguring our notions of loneliness, as these are not static concepts (LaRose, Connolly, Lee, Li & Hales, 2014). Research has also found that individuals who have high levels of conscientiousness are less like to engage with SNSs as they promote procrastination (Hughes, Rowe, Batey & Lee, 2011).

The author illustrates in her blog the power and impact Facebook had on the population by convincing to be “a place of human connectivity,” but

“Social media allows people to connect with each other to create and share information. It is people-powered communication, an authentic dialogue motivated by a basic human desire to share information” (CIPD, Social Media and Employee Voice Report 2013). ‘Click’ and my message is on its way to my friend’s Facebook inbox hundred of miles away. The astonishing speed of how quick we can communicate in today’s societies, all thanks to social media. The invention of Facebook simplified everything we know about communication. We can connect to people whenever and wherever, sharing information has never been more convenient and exciting. In Shane Hipps’ Article, “ Is Facebook Killing Our Souls?,” he has no intention to impede technological advancements, instead he wants users to understand technologies with insights. According to my research, although Hipps ' points has some merits, I disagree with him because he overgeneralized the impacts that Facebook and other social media has on users’ behaviors and identities.

At first, I agreed with Stephen Marche, author of “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?”, but after doing some of my own research I would like to retract my original position. We cannot blame technology for our own human condition. However Stephen Marche begs to differ. “At the forefront of all this unexpectedly lonely interactivity is Facebook, with 845 million users and $3.7 billion in revenue last year” (Marche). Stephen Marche believes Facebook is making us lonely because it is changing the dynamics of traditional friendships (Marche). He also blames Facebook for the rise in human isolation. From 1950 to 2010 a 17 percent increase in households of one were reported (Marche). Does Marche not realize that many happy Americans

Facebook is one catalyst for increased desolation. A study from University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross claims that Facebook usage can lead to more instances of sadness and loneliness. Kross indicates in the study that “[n]ested time-lag analyses indicated that the more people used Facebook the worse they subsequently felt.” The research was able to compose its conclusion based on consistent surveying about the participants’ relative emotional states. Kross composed a questionnaire for Phase 1, assessing the participant 's Facebook motivation levels by asking questions such as whether they use Facebook to share good and bad information with friends and “to find new friends.” For Phase 2, there was another survey provided through text messages. Participants were asked “How do you feel right now? How worried are you right now? How lonely do you feel right now? How much have you used Facebook since the last time we asked? How much have you interacted with other people ‘directly’ since the last time we asked?” Given Kross’s statistical data, there exists a negative connection between Facebook intensity and satisfaction levels. As the participants used Facebook

As technology progress, humans evolve to the advanced technology and enhance our lives via technology. We connect to our families, friends and others through social media such as Facebook. Social media takes up a huge part in our lives. Social media infest us with information that are relevant and irrelevant to us. Marry Marrow wrote, “It was Facebook that changed the face of e-communication; in fact, it was the first electronic social media” (para 1). She assumes that Facebook is playing a huge role in electronic communication. In the journalist Maria Konnikova, “How Facebook makes us unhappy?”, Konnikova divulges many aspects of people on social media through researching and experience, and finds how social makes us unhappy. I agree with Konnikova findings after reading her article. In addition, she concludes that if you are engaged, active, and creative you will not sorrowful on Social media, however if you are passively browsing and defuse to engage, you will be depressed.

Since the introduction of the first social media platform the number one question that many scholars, researchers, and even journalist have wondered and still wonder as people evolve alongside technology, is whether social media is the ultimate tool in bringing the world closer together. The general consensus between those who worry about human behavior is that, those who are born after the 1980s up to the 2000s or as they are called, the millennials, have the means necessary to connect in a global scale, yet they are in fact some of the most isolated individuals to date, and what many are finding is that social media is at the epicenter of this issue. The reasons given to what has led the increase loneliness in people are that social

In the age of information and technology, we are connected to our family, friends, and strangers in an instant through social media. As a result of being easily connected, we are becoming disconnected with each other socially and then disconnected to ourselves emotionally. We got so wrapped up in our Facebook wall that it increases our levels of narcissism. Stephen Marche blames this incline in loneliness to Facebook. Marche’s use of the life of Yvette Vickers, and of statistics, persuades the audience that Facebook is connecting us socially, but disconnecting us from ourselves.