Samantha England Professor Padgett English 1102 04/07/2014 Media Madness Everyday people spend countless hours, minutes,

and seconds online and on social networking sites. No one ever really notices how much time they are spending on this. It is so unnoticeable that you pretty much lose track of time once you get so consumed in what and who you are reading about. Social media sites have slowly but surely taken over the world and the way two people socialize with others from the nearest to furthest corners of the world. It has taken over many different aspects of our lives. Do people even realize how much time they actually invest on social media and being online in general? While using social media, people do not realize the effect that it has on their everyday lives and how much time they spend using it. There are many different ways that social media can affect your life, like your amount of time online, your trust for others, your real- life relationships, and your way of retrieving information and entertainment. While investigating many sources I came across one stating that Mandiberg, the author of The Social Media Reader, is always stumped when asked how many hours per day he spends online. He says he is never quite sure what actually counts as being online. Everyone in fact probably has a different input on this and what they can classify as being connected and online. Mandiberg goes on to say that all his activities that he does every day does not exactly count as being online, but because of todays new technologies, like smart phones, tablets, and wireless internet, people are technically connected at all times even though they might not be physically
Comment [AP1]: This reminds me of the title of that old propaganda film entitled Reefer Madness. Is this your intention?

online. It has gotten to the point that people are so invested in being online that it has become an attribute that is expected nowadays. It affects so much of our life that we feel the need to post every little minor detail and event that goes on in our everyday lives. Mandiberg gave the example that people even go to the extent of posting what they were making for breakfast. For some people this would be considered nothing out of the ordinary, but for others that just too much, because they do not really care what you ate for breakfast. Posting information about your life and what you are doing every second of the day, and just being online in general is all too often being labeled as an addiction (Mandiberg). Its not that were addicted to the technology; were addicted to the people and all the information that comes along with it. People are nosey and are just curious about others lifestyles. This is because social media allows you to connect with complete strangers that you share similar interests with, long distance friendships, even with people you see on an everyday basis. It is slowly taking over every part of ones life and people fail to realize how much time they actually spend using it. This new finding, of always being connected, can affect your life in the future as well. It can affect your professional life and the route you intend to take during your career. When posting something online, one has to remember that once it is there it will always be there and it has the potential of damaging your reputation in some form, depending on what it is. Future employers have the ability of going online and looking one up and finding basically anything they want about them, according to what he/she chose to upload on line in the past. One needs to be able to trust what they put online will not corrupt their career in the future. With always being connected and always being so-called online comes somewhere the trust aspect. You build relationships online with people you may or may not know and grow trust within that cyber relationship. In the early 2000s social media was just starting to take off and
Comment [AP3]: Okay, this paragraph seems to be meandering between several topics. In one sense you seem to be talking about internet addiction and then you seem to be talking about over-sharing for the sake of professionalism. Comment [AP4]: This phrase seems out of place. Comment [AP2]: I think I see what youre saying. So are you saying that posting even the most mundane aspects of our lives is as innocuous and inconsequential as it is boring and uninteresting? Im not super sure, though.

by 2010 social media dominated the way the internet was used. With this, more and more people were becoming socially connected allowing these bonds to form, between different people, through a computer screen and technology. It is sometimes hard to determine what someones trustworthiness is worth. One never knows if they are being serious or not through technology, because it is hard to decipher emotions through generalized text. Golbeck gives an example about eBay and how people put their trust in money on someone that could potentially be half way around the world. They buy a product without actually seeing it and they risk receiving a misinterpreted item. Going on about trust and relationships, Katz and Rice, authors of America and the Internet, state that critics fear that time spent surfing on the internet displaces realworld life, friendships, and community involvement. One spends so much time on communicating through a screen they forget how to have face-to-face interaction with others. They proceed to say that the bad effects of internet surfing do not end with the individual surfer: society itself is impoverished by the internet (Katz, Rice). There are multiple social networking devices that have been introduced to the world and different generations over the past decade. One of the biggest ones that has hit almost every generation and still today continues to dominate the internet is Facebook. Facebook was first introduced to a group of college kids and after multiple growing steps it was eventually opened to the world wide population. Dijick the author of The Culture Connectivity; claimed that the steadily growing masses of users signing up for the service of proof of the sites becomes a centripetal force organizing peoples social lives. This just goes to prove above statements that people are addicted to it and it becomes a trend that people must jump in on. Facebook is one of the main social networking sites that people use to get and stay connected and become well connected with people from all corners of the world. Facebook has taken over ways different
Comment [AP5]: This sounds like your writing a book review as opposed to synthesizing your research into one cogent discussion.

generation used to connect with people. They have taken email to a new level with their Facebook messenger and AIM with their instant chatting. Older generations, with the ability to use Facebook, no longer use the devices like email and the telephone for communication anymore. Instead they turn to Facebook for the instant connection, since most people are usually constantly connected these days. Dijick goes on to say that if you are not a member of Facebook you lose multiple opportunities. Opportunities such as getting to know everyones lives and the people they hang out with, event invites, and not staying updated on major news in your friends lives or around the world. Throughout time Facebook has become a must have for most generations, it has taken many different terms to new levels, but the one taken the furthest is friending. They said that this frequently used term gives you a sense of what real life friending would be like. Even though it might give you the sense of it, you arent in reality friends with them. You just get access to their profiles to get to know them through the positive aspects of their lives; because of what they decide is good enough, to post for everyone to see on their pages. There are many different reasons people use social media. There are four main ones that have been researched and more in depth looked at. The four are the always obvious socializing, for entertainment, self-status seeking, and information. All people use social media sites for all these reasons whether they know it or not. It just comes naturally when you engage in such activities such as being connected with social media. People perform a variety of activities online: 1) consumption of information and entertainment, 2) participation in social interaction and community development, and 3) production of self-expression and self-actualization (Heinonen). While online you consume what others post and share and gain entertainment out of everyones everyday lives. While consuming what other post you participate in the online
Comment [AP7]: What does this mean? I need you to define these uncommon terms or specialized language. Comment [AP6]: Im not sure what this means. Can you use clearer, more precise language?

festivities by commenting or putting your input on what others post. You can help other participate by producing your own posts and pictures for others to verbalize their opinions on. Without noticing you usually engage in two of the three, if not all three, activities at the same time. In this research, Heinonen conducted an experiment where young users kept a diary of their feelings and emotions about what they saw posted online. Some of the participants shared their diary entries saying they used social media for multiple different reason like stated above. Some specific examples are: for belongingness, to be inspired with new ideas, get updated on the newest trends and fads, to take up boredom and free time, retain information, to relax ones mind, sell and earn money, buy things, keep in touch with friends, and to ultimately express yourself. Countless people partake in most if not all of these activities while being connected to the internet and being online. Throughout peoples lives technology takes many advances and people get consumed in what all the new advances are about. They lose sight of what really matters and how to not be always online. They lose their sense of trust for people and forget out to freely express themselves without having to worry about what others think about them. Social media is now a part of everyones everyday lives, hours, minutes, and seconds. Some do not even know how to live or go without it. People truly dont realize the toll and effect it can take on individuals lives and how much time they spend consuming online.
Comment [AP8]: This makes me ask the so what? question. What relevance does this have to your thesis?

Works Cited: Dijick, Jose. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford University Press, 2013. Internet Resource. Golbeck, Jennifer. Analyzing The Social Web. Amsterdam. Elsevier, 2013. Internet Resource. Heinonen, Kristina. Consumer Activity in Social Media: Managerial Behavior. Journal of Consumer Behaviour. 10.6 (2011): 356-364. Print. Katz, James E, and Ronald E. Rice. Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interactioin. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002. Internet Resource. Mandiberg, Michael. The Social Media Reader. New York: New York University Press, 2012. Internet resource
Sam,

You have a very interesting discussion here and have found some relevant research. But this paper seems to be more of a survey of the cons of social media, which isnt really an argument. You raise interesting points, all of which could be a paper on their own; for example, your discussion on social media and face-to-face interaction is especially interesting. What I really want to see is you taking a specific and strong 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 a specific argument? Who is your ideal audience? What social change might you want to enact? Take a stronger stance here; Im left wondering what exactly your thesis is, or what you intend your thesis to be, which is problematic.