social media debate

1. Feck 1
Danny Feck
20 November 2015
Prof. Blanco
Social Media Debate
Part Two
Concerns within the reading are, “more than 170 million Americans use social
media to communicate with each other online, but critics say the technology can
endanger privacy rights and hamper the development of vital, face-to-face interpersonal
skills.” This shows that if we keep up what we are doing that in the near future there will
be no such thing as face-to-face contact and everyone will be glued to a technological
device of some sort. Rumors are spread very fast over the social media. To back my
argument up I will use the Manti Te’o hoax. This shows how social media can make
someone believe something that is not true. Another concern about social media is
privacy. Privacy is key to being able to be apart of the online world. Privacy is a big
problem in the US because we don’t have data protection. This is an issue because
without protection you never know where all your stuff can end up. A concerning factor
about social media’s is a statistic that I found from the article taking between 1990 and
1999. They all preferred texting over all other forms of communication. Social Media
doesn’t help self-esteem either, the article talks about how girls who in real life are often
constrained in their roles are more outgoing online. These examples here show what the
negatives are from being behind any type of screen for a long period of time, it can even
change you.

2. Feck 2
Even though there are consequences to social media, there are also benefits.
Social media helps us figure things out faster that are going on in the world. An example
of this is the attack on Paris, I wouldn’t have known that had happen if it wasn’t for
social media. I got notifications on my twitter and Facebook. An argument about good
benefits of social media is that through twitter you can organize big events, for example,
in the article they talked about #riotcleanup, which rallied people to clean up the streets
all around the world.
The concerns about social media are how people act on Twitter, Twitter can be a
great way to get certain points out but only use Twitter to organize protest or events or
hurt us it shows why people are concerned with the path we are going down with social
media. Relationship’s are a concern when it comes to technology, people are not taking
as big as risks when it comes to showing people who they truly are. People would rather
like to stay in and talk to people online. Social Media is making people be less outgoing
and making them feel as texting is the best way to contact someone or get their word out.
Social media is a concern because people are starting to show how they are becoming
obsessed with their smartphones. In the article it states that many cannot good morning
than 10 minutes without checking their phone or social media. From 2009 to 2013 the
amount of users went up from 84.3 1.52.1. This is a concern because it shows that kids
are being introduced to social media at a younger age and it is affecting the way they act
later on life. We need to find ways to slow down on how media is given to children for
future generations we’ll be missing out on important people skills.

3. Feck 3
Social media has affected democratic societies in a very positive way. Politicians
are able to get to point out faster and spread it quicker. Social media has made it easier
for politicians to get your point across without even traveling they’re able to debate
public issues from their own home for free instead of traveling around the country. Hey
good example of this is Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaign operations because he used
Facebook to gain supporters.

4. Feck 4
Part Three
Have you ever thought about how social media could possibly be one of the
biggest problems of our generation? We use social media in our everyday lives, we think
it might be helping but behind the scenes it is actually hurting us. In class we talked about
both the positive and negatives of social media. I will be sharing with you today on how
social media is hurting us.
In an article about how children learn to interpret risky opportunities on social
network sites, one kid told a story about how he was trying to stop cyber-bullying. A kid
in his class took a photo of a boy and edited to make it look funny. He than sent it around
to people and the kid who was in the photo got made fun of. The defendant did what was
best and went up to people and told them how would you feel if that was you in the
photo. These kids were between the ages of eleven and twelve. This is a problem because
this shows how children at such a young age are getting into the social media issues and
causing problems. As they grow older this will lead to bigger issues in that school
community. This story leads into my other argument because this shows where it all
begins and where it can lead for these boys in the future.
We see media around us each and everyday, there is no way of escaping it. One
way media is connected to social media is body image. The body images we see in the
media are portrayed to be real, but they are not. The body types we see are not attainable
in reality. There are several studies, that investigate the negative consequences of body
image on male body perception and satisfaction, which all suggest a similar conclusion:
The media has a negative influence on body perception and satisfaction (Agliata &

5. Feck 5
Tantleff-Dunn, 2004; Leit, Gray, & Pope, 2002). This just comes to prove the point that
everything we see in social media is not always true.
In conclusion, social media is not benefiting us in a lot of positive ways, it is
actually hurting us more than helping us. We need to find better ways to control it for
future generations before it gets out off hand and the whole world revolves around it. I
have learned from this experiment that I need to truly think about what I am reading
before I believe it is true and talk about it. In that case I need to look and see if the
sources are credible and not just rumors made up.

6. Feck 6
Works Cited
Clemmitt, M. (2013, January 25). Social Media explosion. CQ
Researcher, 23, 81-104. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/
Livingstone, Sonia. "Developing Social Media Literacy: How Children
Learn To Interpret Risky Opportunities On Social Network Sites." Communications: The
European Journal Of Communication Research 39.3 (2014): 283-303. Communication &
Mass Media Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Hargreaves, Duane A., and Marika Tiggemann. "Muscular Ideal Media
Images And Men's Body Image: Social Comparison Processing And Individual
Vulnerability." Psychology Of Men & Masculinity 10.2 (2009): 109-119. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Sohn, Steve H. "Body Image: Impacts Of Media Channels On Men's And
Women's Social Comparison Process, And Testing Of Involvement Measurement."
Atlantic Journal Of Communication 17.1 (2009): 19-35. Communication & Mass Media
Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

7. Feck 7