Ramos

Karen Ramos
Professor Rosenfeld
English 113B
17 March 2015
Social Media: Is It Actually Useful or Not?
Technology has been able to improve our lives significantly over time. It has
impacted the way we communicate with people, how we find additional sources for
knowledge, and how we entertain ourselves. In the article, The Flight from
Conversation, by Sherry Turkle, it discusses how technology has affected the way we
connect with other people. We specifically choose who we want to talk to and avoid
others by occupying ourselves with our smart devices. Technology has altered our lives
so significantly that no body really realizes that it has become a problem. We are so used
to connecting with different individuals through the use technology that we have lost the
true meaning of communication and connecting with one another. Most conversations are
supposed to be genuine and personal but now they have lost its sense of emotion. Turkle
states, we expect more from technology and less from one another and seem
increasingly drawn to technologies that provide the illusion of companionship without the
demands of relationship (Turkle 546). Even when people are not physically alone, they
are still drawn to use their phone even though there are many other individuals
surrounding them. Although, social media is a great way to make our everyday lives a
little bit more convenient and easier; many people do not see the limitations, dangers, and
distractions that occur when people are involved with their technological devices. We
have become so attached to our smart devices that it has become more of a priority than a

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necessity. Initially, technology was used to help improve our lives and to make it more
convenient but now it just seems to consume it.
Some may argue that the social media is a simple way of entertaining or
occupying yourself; however, when a person is too involved with their smart devices, it
can cause them to not communicate with others and eventually lead them to being
antisocial. Usually, a social person is someone who willingly wants to talk to others and
spend some quality time with a friend, but other individuals may prefer on having their
own bubble (Turkle 544). Secluding yourself occasionally from certain people is not a
bad thing to do, but if it starts to become excessive it can probably affect the way you
interact or treat your current companions. Typically this lifestyle can be avoided but it
just proves how some people choose to be alone, especially when it involves being
surrounded by people they have no relation to. In Figure 1, there is a small group of
friends that are all together and they are all preoccupied on their cell phones. They all
seem to be really focused with their phone, instead of conversing and paying attention to
one another. What this image is trying to portray is that even though our friends can
surround us or any other people in general, we can sometimes be more interested with our
phones than the people who are physically there. This takes away the idea of socializing
and being able to hold a conversation with a person. When someone is always used to
communicating with a person over the Internet, it can be quite easy to talk to that
individual if you are not face-to-face. Messaging a person over the Internet is clearly
different than talking to a person physically especially since you are not required to reply
right away to the person or even reply back to them at all. This gives people a chance to
figure out what they want to say before it is said. Besides, if you only focus on talking to

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a group of people that you already know, how are you supposed to make new friends if
you are not willing to talk to different people that you see?
Usually technological
devices can be very beneficial when
it comes to contacting others;
however, many people can misuse
their cellphones for the wrong
purposes by exploiting a critical
Figure 1

accident over the Internet first

instead of calling for medical help initially or using their technological devices at
inappropriate times such as texting while driving. The article, I Tweet, Therefore I am:
Life in the Hall of Mirrors by Andrew Lam, discusses how a few individuals who have
been close to death or in danger have misused there phones when it came to contacting
for help or assistance. In Florida, there was a young teenage boy who had fought off a
vicious alligator and merely survived with only one limb missing. After his battle, he
asked his friend to snap a photo of him in the trauma unit and post it on Facebook (Lam
540). Normally, when people are in severe pain they want to be able to contact the police
right away so they could seek the medical attention that they require. However, this
person was more fascinated of the condition he was in, that he wanted it to be posted all
over the internet so people would be aware of what had happened to him. I think he
decided to post his incident all over the Internet so he could gather a numerous amount of
peoples attention that could possibly spread globally. In much more serious cases, some
people should be more concerned with the medical condition they are in. Not everyone is

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fortunate of being able to make a call for help, especially for those who are alone and are
not able to alert anyone if they are in any serious trouble, particularly if a person is
having a stroke or heart attack. A phone call right away can help a person to be able to
possibly live and be safe in the future. Another article, Texting and Driving by Megan
A. Moreno, discusses how the act of texting while driving is very dangerous and
distracting. As well as, stating how many teenagers are not mindful of the possibilities of
getting into an accident is quite high. Some young drivers may not realize the
consequences of texting and driving since they believe nothing bad will ever occur to
them (Moreno). However, accidents can be very unpredictable. When a person is driving,
they should be completely alert and aware of their surroundings. Besides, your own
safety should matter more than whoever is texting or calling you on the phone. Therefore,
we should know better on how to properly use our phones when it is necessary for an
emergency or preventing any distractions to occur.
When it comes to having a Facebook, it could be pretty entertaining since they
have certain features that allow you to like many things that interest you or post several
photos of yourselves. Some may say that these social media sites are useful for
communicating or sharing certain aspects that have occurred in our lives; however, some
people can use these sites negatively for the wrong reasons such as stalking another
individual or stealing other peoples information. Normally, Facebook asks us to provide
some personal information about ourselves. For instance, it asks us about our name, age,
birthdate, and what city we live in. Although, it may seem like it is just asking for some
general knowledge that is going to be displayed all over the internet. Certain people may
have the tendency to use your personal information in an illegal way. This activity is

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called identify theft. It usually occurs when someone steals your personal information
and uses it for there own benefit. The article, The Truth about Social Media Theft:
Perception versus reality by Anonymous, discusses how many individuals do little effort
to protect certain information to be exposed to the Internet. Even though there are several
ways to protect your identity such as changing the privacy settings, some people do not
make the effort to do so. The author states, "If people aren't careful, identity thieves can
quickly gather all the information they need to commit fraud, and that's why it's so
important to be selective about the information shared (Anonymous). Even when people
are unaware of the possibilities of identity theft ever occurring to them, we can never be
too safe of what we expose online. There have been some cases of people who have been
stalked or threatened over the Web. It may seem like the Internet is a harmless tool, but it
can be very dangerous. For instance, when it comes to talking to a friend over the
Internet you can never be too sure who is on the other side of the screen. Many accounts
that are created can be fake and use information that is not true to the person. In most
cases, that is how some people are endangered if they are involved with talking to
random strangers online or exposing too much personal information about themselves.
Although social media has been used to help enhance our lives in several ways
such as communicating with others or for self-entertainment, we have abused the power
of what we can do with technology. Technology is supposed to help improve our lives
and to make it a little bit more convenient, but most people misuse its technical purpose.
Some may believe that the social media does not interfere with their lives, but they are
not capable of seeing the reality of how it is such a big interference. We have used social
media to avoid people we do not know, so we could prevent ourselves from experiencing

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any awkward situations. During certain emergencies, some people were more amazed and
concerned of taking a photo of a persons injury first instead of calling for any medical
help. As well as, stealing other peoples personal information for their own benefit.
Overall, we should be more aware of the consequences that occur when we use social
media.

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Work Cited
Anonymous. "The Truth about Social Media Identity Theft: Perception versus Reality."
ProQuest. Businesswire, 21 June 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
<http://search.proquest.com/docview/504746839?pq-origsite=summon>.

Lam, Andrew. "I Tweet, Therefore I Am: Life in the Hall of Mirrors." Dialogues: An
Argument Rhetoric and Reader. By Gary Goshgarian, Kathleen Krueger, and
Janet Barnett. Minc. New York: Longman, 2000. 539-42. Print.

Moreno, M. (2014). Texting and driving. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(12), 1172.

Turkle, Sherry. "The Flight from Conversation." Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and
Reader. By Gary Goshgarian, Kathleen Krueger, and Janet Barnett. Minc. New
York: Longman, 2000. 543-46. Print.