The
Great Debate
My blog will address a
great debate that has circulated our society since so much progression and
popularity originally sparked involving social media. Some believe that social
media promotes an antisocial lifestyle. On the other hand, others see social
media as outlets that promote a pro-social lifestyle. Everyone seems to be adamant
about the sides they take in this argument and fail to see the opposing
argument. However, I am able to take into account both arguments and come to a
conclusion of my own. I wish to help others and to inform them about the
negatives and positives to both arguments so that they may come to a conclusion
of their own. Many people take one side or the other rather than working to
understand their opponent. The first side of the debate I will address is the
belief that social media causes people to become more antisocial. It is believed
that social media sites like Facebook and Myspace lessen social and personal
interaction. So many people are against sites like these because it is assumed
that some people spend their time looking at pictures and posts from other
people instead of actually interacting with these people. Below is a link of
another blog called, “The Antisocial Media,” the blog completely satirizes the
concept of social media.
People that think
social media sites promote antisocial behavior come to this conclusion because they
figure that if the users of sites like these are on these social media sites
than they are not actually interacting with people face-to-face. They are
spending time on the internet instead of going out in the real world with other
people. Even if you are using social media sites to communicate with others,
through messages or posts, you are still acting in an antisocial fashion
because you are not directly communicating with someone in person. Another main
reason that people take the stance that social networking is antisocial is
because social media allows people to say and post things with complete and
total anonymity. Anonymity is not always a good thing when it comes to the
internet. Using a social media outlet, if you wanted you could remain fairly
anonymous or 100% anonymous. This anonymity allows for social media users to
say whatever they may feel appropriate, no matter how inappropriate it actually
is. Cyber bullying is a newfound torturing device people like inflict on others.
Without sharing any information about themselves, people use social media to
say hurtful things about others without any backlash. Below is a link to an
online article that is against social media. It is antisocial behavior to use
social media to intentionally be malicious towards other people.
I feel that social media can be both social and anti-social. To me it all depends on the person and what they are doing with the social media. It can be used to talk with people and send invites, or it can be used as a second life.
ReplyDeleteWith the popularity and introduction of various social media outlets, I originally thought that using the Internet as a means of communication only facilitates anti-social behavior. However, as the technological world is changing and transforming, social media is becoming more of a part of our daily routines and serves as an easy, inexpensive, and advanced way of communicating with our peers, family, and professionals. Social media, similar to text messaging, definitely takes away from face to face communication but this may not necessarily be a bad thing. Social media outlets allow us to make connections and create long-lasting relationships with not only people but also organizations, brands, companies, and anything that will facilitate communication.
ReplyDelete