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Yasmin Garces
Professor Lewis
English 113A
9 December 2015
Is social media strengthening or destroying relationships?
Socialmediahasaffecteddifferentaspectsofrelationships.Forinstance,as the use of
social media applications continues to rise, the idea of putting our best selves forward is now
more prevalent. People now can create their own ideal persona without others noticing as a
result, making the relationship less personal and less honest. In addition, social media
applications can interfere with social interactions between family members. Families are now
spending more and more time communicating through technology than before and consequently
are not fostering basic familial communication with one another. People find it difficult to
communicate face to face with others since they are so used to making friends through social
media platforms. Social media is negatively affecting todays relationships because displaying
our perfect selves versus our real selves is now easier, it ruins family bonding time, and the rising
use of social media makes it difficult for people to communicate with each other in person.
The increase use in technology and phones is especially noticeable in younger
generations. One study, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found people ages 8 to 18
spent more time on media than on any other activity- at an average of 7.5 hours a day (Drago
14). Due to worldwide applications like Instagram; the youth have been attached even more to
their cell phones. As technology advances applications like Instagram cannot only be used on

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smartphone, but can now be accessed through computers and tablets. Instagram is a social media
application that enables users to share pictures, videos, status, and information. It is a website
where people can customize there own profile and follow who ever they desire. When an
individual has followers, those followers can like and comment on the post they view. Instagram
was created on October 6, 2010. It has expanded in the last 2 years and has had over 200 million
users. As amazing as it sounds it comes with plenty of downfalls. The main downfall Instagram
and the use of technology has initiated is the decrease in face-to-face interaction of todays
relationships.
One main reason why social media applications like Instagram has negatively impacted
face to face interaction is because using social media has made it more common for this
generation to present ideal selves versus real selves. Everyone on Instagram wants to look
perfect, fun and successful. Instagram profiles are self-created, therefore, users have self-choice
in sharing positive things that occur in their lives and leave out the negative and boring parts of
their lives. Posts like look at my new Michael Kors watch creates an online nation of
competition and comparison between followers. It is all about who looks better or who has a
better lifestyle.. Comparison and competition leads to people lying about whom they really are.
People who are highly insecure about themselves and want to look better than other can now
present and create a whole better persona of themselves. According to a study by Cisco
involving both college students and professionals age 18 to 30, eighty one percent of those
surveyed believe that people have different online and offline identities (Rupple and Sims). The
reason why people tend to hide their real identities is because social media apps are platforms
that can be used for bullying. People can hide characteristics that they are not comfortable with
because face-to-face interaction is not involved. Social media has made it easy to lie, and portray

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a different person. Some examples are adding false information on the status, editing and
customizing pictures, and lying about age. The fact that people do not have to physically interact
with their followers makes it easier for those who fix themselves up online to constantly interact
with others throughout the use of their online profile. They also feel less accountable to represent
their real selves because there is nobody verifying what is posted on the Internet. Therefore they
continue to customize their ideal selves decreases the chances of them wanting to actually
interact with others face to face since they will be forced to present their real selves.
Furthermore, social media is affecting family bonding time and it is decreasing the time
they spent together. Children are growing up surrounded by mobile devices and interactive social
networks such as Instagram. Although these platforms allow people to message each other, and
view peoples information, it can also get in the way of the most important aspect, family time.
Communication is not all about communicating through technology. For instance, family dinners
are largely meant for families to eat together on the dinner table and talk about their day. One
benefit of eating meals together is the effect on strengthening family bonds; and ultimately for
younger children, having routine family meals can provide a sense of security and a feeling of
belonging in the family (Villegas 7). Therefore, with our current technology, children are
detaching from their families and are becoming more attached to their mobile device. This can
also lead to children expressing their feelings on social media rather than their own family.
Children feel more comfortable expressing themselves online because they can get more
feedback and advise from hundreds of followers rather than getting it from a couple of people. In
addition, due to social media, children and parents sometimes have a difficult time
communicating. Children are more readily adopting social media language such as words like:
LOL, OMG, TGIF, TFTI etc. Parents do not understand what these mean. This lack of mutual

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understanding further decreases family communication. Today, the dinner table is filled with
buzzing sound of vibration of phone notifications.
Moreover, children see people having social media applications and immediately make
one because they think its cool. As a result, social media usage is increasingly causing a
transformation in the manner in which young people interact with one another. Children start
getting addicted to those applications and rely more and more on technology to communicate
with others. However, computer dependence can affect a persons ability to have a face-to-face
conversation. After one becomes so dependent on online communication, it becomes
uncomfortable and uncommon to communicate verbally. They find it difficult to communicate
with others when it comes up to having a conversation up front. According to Drago in The
Effect of Technology On Face To Face Communication, a study on the presence of mobile
devices and the quality of real life found that People who had conversations in the absence of
mobile devices reported higher level of empathetic concern, while those conversing in the
presence of device reported lower levels of empathy. The constant use of social media
obviously has negative effects on understanding and considerations. Young kids are more likely
to express what they feel on the Internet and voice their opinions on certain topics here. Yes, it is
true that applications like Instagram makes it easy to avoid physical contact by providing fast
communication. It helps avoid awkwardness and having to make eye-to-eye contact. Teenagers
do not have to look at others reactions towards the thoughts and expressions they make.
However, that just affects face-to-face interaction because it causes a lack of communication
with one another. Nevertheless, if a person was to voice out loud what they feel, they will be
more precautious of the words they use to express themselves as oppose to if they were just
typing their feelings online. People spend so much time online that they do not always

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understand the feelings and emotions of the person they are talking to. Communicating with
friends through a message is not the same as communicating with them face-to-face; it is best to
share thoughts and quality time with others in person. Teenagers are able to understand others
having them in front.
Contrary to many peoples beliefs that social media platforms like Instagram impacts
face-to-face communication negatively, others do not share the same concern. Rather, they
believe that social media platforms are important elements to keeping the family close and the
system running smoothly (Villegas 6). With that said, it means that some parents tend to keep
the family calm, relaxing, and spend quality time by entertaining the younger kids with a phone
device. It sounds peaceful having young kids easily pleased when holding a phone and scrolling
down instagram pictures, while parents are watching television or are also on a phone device.
However, that is not necessarily a well-mannered way to spend time with family. Studies has
shown that social media has impacted the way that adults communicate with their kids. There
have been countless reports and articles in the notion of parents using media devices as their
babysitters(villegas 6). When parents want their children to be calm, their solution for any
situation to run smooth is by engaging their kids with a phone. Parents need to be more
precautious on the way they handle their kids. Not only is that ruining face-to-face
communication between parental and kids but it is also exposing and introducing young people
to applications like Instagram. Young kids dont need social media applications. What they need
is parental love, attention and face-to-face communication.
It is clear that social media applications have become part of young peoples lives. This
has affected different aspects of relationships. In order to feel important and fit in, people
customize and lie about themselves. However, that would not get them anywhere in life, it will

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only cause for people to hide in back of a screen and avoid eye to eye contact because of the selfdoubt they have towards their character. Social networks have revolutionized the way people
communicate and socialize with individuals face-to-face. Families and friends are not interacting
face-to-face with each other because of the reliability they have with their phones and social
networks. Having those essentials in their everyday life makes them more attached to their
phones and less likely to have direct communication with other individuals. The pressure to stay
online is intense, it is certain that the need of staying connected to the outside world affects what
goes on inside individuals world. The more they use it the more vulnerable they get. As it
advances people are pressured to adopt different life styles. Humanity has adopted and attached
themselves to social media and as technology advances this will be a never-ending trend in
society.

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Works Cited
Drago, Emily. "The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication." The Elon Journal of
Undergraduate Research in Communications 6.1 (2015): 14-15. The Effect of Technology
On Face-to-Face Communication. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

Ruppel, Cynthia, and Randi L. Sims. "Information System, Social Media and Developing
Relationships: Where Does Reality Lie?" HSBE Faculty Blog: Information System, Social
Media and. Nova Southeaster University, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Villegas, Alessondra. "The Influence of Technology on Family Dynamics." The Influence of

Technology On Family Dynamics-DOCS. Proceedings of the New York State
Communication Association, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.