Nick Amoruso

Adam Padgett
English 1102
April 2, 2014
Challenges of Social Media on Modern Society
Today, social media has become a necessity for most people, and they feel like
they couldnt survive without it. Social media has posed a serious problem over the past
few years, and it has slowly begun to change the way people think and act. The most
influential and most popular social media sites used today are Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. Facebook and Twitter are fairly similar social media sites. Both sites allow the
user to post status and pictures, while Instagram only allows users to post pictures or
videos. Although social media sites offer many advantages, it also offers some
disadvantages. The future outlook of this problem doesnt look very promising, and it
could constitute negative impacts on the individuals who use these social networks.
The Advantages
One of the many advantages of using social media sites is that it allows users to
connect with friends, whether they are old or new friends. Personally, I used social media
to reconnect with my old friends from when I used to live in New York. Using social
media to reconnect with old friends was great, because I got to see pictures of them and
see how they have changed over the years. Social media also provides a way for users to
meet new friends. When I decided I was going to attend UNC Charlotte, I used an
application through Facebook that helps students find roommates for the school they are
attending. The application provided a survey, which was used to compare students based
Comment [AP1]: How do you know this to
be true?
Comment [AP2]: I want you to be more
specific here. this is too vague for an
academic argument.
on the similarity of the responses they provided in the survey. Students also create
Facebook pages for colleges that allow incoming freshman to meet new students.
Not only does Social Media allow people to connect with each other within the
United States, it also allows people to connect with others all over the world. Facebook
allows for easier communication for families who have loved ones in the military.
Facebook allows people to chat and video chat with others from different countries free
of charge. Video chat is a helpful feature for family members to keep in touch with
distant relatives who they dont get to see quite often. My family has used Facebook to
connect with friends from different countries. For many years my parents have housed
foreigners who come to my town for work over the summer. My family became close
with a few of them, and Facebook allowed them to keep in touch when they returned
home to their country. All of the features on these new social media websites make it
easier to keep in touch with distant friends and relatives without costing money.
In addition to keeping in touch with friends and family, social media also gives
people with severe physical and communication disabilities an easier way of
communication. According to Hemsley, Palmer, and Balandin, people with
communication disabilities use twitter for information exchange, and it can help with the
development of some communication skills. Using Twitter helps people with
communication disabilities gain access to information and help them feel knowledgeable
and in control of their own lives. I think that this article argues a strong point that social
media websites can be used to help people with communication disabilities learn crucial
communication skills, and help them gain access to information (Hemsley et al. 1).

Comment [AP3]: All of this seems
axiomatic. I dont need a general survey on
the positive and negatives of social media. I
want you to be arguing something specific
throughout this whole paper. This lacks
focus.
The Disadvantages
Although social media offers a few advantages, it also offers some disadvantages
too. Social media is affecting human relationships in a negative way. According to
Marcia Clemmitts article, social media is being viewed as a replacement for face-to-face
communication. Clemmitt goes on to state, In a survey on favored communication
modes, people born between 1990 and 1999 said they prefer texting above all other forms
of communication, but in second place tied with instant messaging and phone calls
is communicating via Facebook. Strikingly, face-to-face conversation is the least favored
form of communication for the digital generation (Clemmitt 1). This article argues that
the younger generation heavily relies on social media and instant messaging for
communication, and face-to-face communication isnt favored anymore. This could cause
problems in the future, because face-to-face communication helps build necessary skills
that may be needed when someone is being interviewed for a job.
In addition to social media negatively impacting face-to-face communication
skills, it can also open many doors for cyber bullying. With more and more younger
children joining social media websites, more children are exposed to fall victim of cyber
bullying. According to an article by Cassidy, Faucher, and Jackson, another facet of
communications in the cyber world, which creates a distinction between face-to-face
bullying and cyber bullying, is the possibility of anonymity in online communications.
Whereas the traditional victim knows who is doing the bullying, the cyber bullying
victim is not necessarily acquainted with the cyber bully and may or may not know who
is hiding behind a pseudonym. The authors go on to suggest that cyber bullying is much
worse than face-to-face bullying. I strongly agree with that statement because cyber
Comment [AP4]: This is great; you could
write an entire paper on this topic alone.
Comment [AP5]: The writer argues, not
the article.
Comment [AP6]: Okay, but this quote
doesnt suggest this is the case.
Comment [AP7]: Seems like you are taking
a big leap here. You need more support for
these claims.
bullying is much harder to get away from than face-to-face bullying. Face-to-face
bullying may occur just at school, but cyber bullying can occur at anytime during the day,
and it is exposed to more people online (Cassidy et al. 1).
Not only does social media sites feed cyber bullying, it could also expose
sensitive information about the users. According to an article by Mares and Torra, People
use these networks to share their feelings, emotions, and meet people with the same
interests or hobbies. As a result, social networks contain plenty of sensible information
about each user (Mares et al. 1). Therefore, it can be dangerous to collect this kind of data
and publish it without protection. Many people these days are posting things online that
are sensitive and shouldnt be posted. Sensitive information posted by a user could get
into the wrong hands and could lead to serious problems. People should always be careful
of the statuses or pictures they post, because you never know who may see them.
Future Outlook
If people dont become aware of the negative effects social media can have on
their life, it can drastically impact their future. Using social media cites often can lead to
users becoming less literate due to the way they type on social media cites. Using these
technologies, which make communication so much easier, could result in deterioration of
actual communication skills, especially among the younger generation. People use
numerous abbreviations for several words when they make a post on social media, and if
the user has autocorrect on they can spell words wrong and not even know it. Although it
may not seem like it is a serious problem, if people become customary to using
autocorrect they could easily forget the correct spelling for some words.
Not only can social media lead to users becoming less literate, it can also pose a
negative impact on a teenagers future career. Many teenagers post pictures of them
drinking, smoking, or doing something that they shouldnt be doing. Once it is posted
online, you can never truly remove it from the Internet. Therefore, those inappropriate
pictures can be exposed to law enforcement, and even possible future employers. Posting
pictures and statuses like that wont lead to anything but trouble. There is not benefit
from posting those kinds of pictures, and it can be detrimental to a teenagers future
career.
In addition to negatively impacting a teenagers future, social media can also
cause health disorders to users. According to an article by Whaling and others, studies
suggest that narcissism is exacerbated, and even encouraged, by social networking sites
perhaps due to the rapid rise in social networking sites that encourage users to post status
updates and photos and comment on others posts and photos. The authors go on to
suggest that social media use can also cause the user to be antisocial, depressed, and have
personality disorders (Whaling et al. 1). The article makes some strong points, but it
doesnt mean that everyone who uses these social media cites will contract such
disorders.
Conclusion
To conclude, using social media websites has its advantages, but it also has its
disadvantages. Using these social media websites can be effective and useful in positive
ways if used in moderation. Various people base their lives around their social media life,
and dont focus much on their actual life. Today, people feel the need to check their
social networking cites often in fear that they might miss something important. This
Comment [AP8]: This is not an argument.
This is as assertive as saying that the sky is
sometimes blue.
generation has become so reliant on technology that we are starting to forget the
foundation of necessary communication skills. If people dont change the way they
communicate, people should expect to see communication becoming more and more
digitalized in the near future.
Nick,
You have a very interesting discussion here and have found some relevant
research (although, Im not sure that you used the last source on your list). But this paper
seems to be more of a survey of the pros and cons of social media, which isnt an
argument. You raise interesting points, all of which could be a paper on their own. You
should be taking a stance. Consider the Listen Up article we read. Some in the deaf
community have taken the stance that cochlear implants threaten the deaf community.
See how that is an argument? Take a stronger stance here.



















Works Cited
Cassidy, Wanda, Chantal Faucher, and Margaret Jackson. "Cyberbullying Among Youth:
A Comprehensive Review of Current International Research and Its Implications
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Social Media Explosion." CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press, 25 Jan.
2013. Web.
Hemsley, Bronwyn, Stuart Palmer, and Susan Balandin. "Tweet Reach: A Research
Protocol for Using Twitter to Increase Information Exchange in People with
Communication Disabilities." Academic Search Complete. EBSCO, Apr. 2014.
Web.
Mares, Jordi, and Vicenc Torra. "On the Protection of Social Networks Users
Information." Academic Search Complete. EBSCO, Sept. 2013. Web.
and Application to Policy and Practice." Academic Search Complete. EBSCO,
Dec. 2013. Web.
Rosen, Whaling, Rab, Carrier, and Cheever. "Is Facebook Creating iDisorders? The
Link between Clinical Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders and Technology Use,
Attitudes and Anxiety." Academic Search Complete. EBSCO, n.d. Web. 15 May
2013