In “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” Marche states the following in response to the question proposed in the title of his essay: “Within this world of instant and absolute communication, unbounded by limits of time or space, we suffer from unprecedented alienation” (601). In other words, thanks to technology the world has never been smaller, and humans have never felt farther apart. Marche’s feelings about social networking, Facebook in particular, are made clear from the start. He opens his essay by vividly relaying a true story that conjures the reader’s morbid-curiosity and establishes his writing-style. At times it seems like Marche makes a sport of playing on humanity’s primal fears about loneliness, ageing, and dying, but he plays a …show more content…
Using disturbing imagery, he recounts the story of a washed-up former Playboy Bunny turned B-Movie horror-icon that died old and alone, and was found upstairs in her house “mummified” with the “glow of her computer screen” illuminating her bedroom (601). In relaying this tragic final scene of Yvette Vickers’ life, Marche delivers a veritable one-two-punch with the line, “… now she was an icon of a new and different kind of horror: our growing fear of loneliness” (601). Marche’s background as a regular contributor to WIRED magazine shows in the way he quickly grabs the reader’s attention from the get-go with a macabre tale. As if dying alone and being left to rot wasn’t sad enough, Marche includes a personal account of the times he has scrolled through Facebook and felt disconnected and ‘’miserable’’ after witnessing all the seemingly full and perfect lives projected by the people on his Facebook feed (606-607). This personal story most likely hits home for anyone who has ever used Facebook and probably conjures up strong feelings of isolation and inadequacy after viewing a procession of air-brushed lives via a news feed. Marche plays on common fears and emotions to plant his thesis in the mind of his readers, creating a desire to read on and see what other curious devices he has up his sleeve. Some might say Marche is being melodramatic by indirectly including Facebook in the smoke surrounding Yvette Vickers’s lonely death or blaming the social media site for feelings
In Stephen Marche’s ”Is Facebook Making us Lonely”, the author starts with an grabbing or interesting story that made headlines about a women named Yvette Vickers. He uses this anecdote to grasp the reader’s attention. Moreover, the writer is trying to appeal to the audience about loneliness. In the text it says “Social Media-from Facebook to twitter- has made us more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, new research suggests that we have never been lonelier”. The author presents his argument and gives some factual evidence for the argument. Moreover, he compares his views with others. He gives the readers a problem that many people face nowadays is loneliness. Marche informed “Despite its deleterious effect
Scott Brown establishes a humorous tone, focuses on specific diction and language, and utilizes figurative language to develop his argument that modern day social networking with Facebook in particular drives the collection of meaningless friendships and prevents people from undergoing the natural process of letting go of friends. Brown appeals to his audience through his use of tone. Right at the beginning of the essay, he casually asks, “Hey, want to be my friend?” (par 1).
The article “I’m So Totally, Digitally, Close To You (Brave New World of Digital Intimacy)” (2002) is written by Clive Thompson, who is also a blogger and columnist. The author aims to explain the users’ attraction of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of “incessant online contact” through his text. Since social networking has become a nearly ubiquitous aspect of human contemporary life, Thomson has effectively illustrated the invasion of the social media into human daily lives, how people are commanded by it. He later goes on to explore the benefits of social networking sites and a few challenges of the usage assumptions.
Marche argues that social media such as Facebook is the main cause of people becoming lonelyfor this epidemic occurrence. He begins his article by introducing a death of a Hollywood iIcon, Yvette Vickers. It was noted that Vicki’s mummified body was found only decades after her death. She died in isolation, alone and forgotten by the outside world. Noting the fear of loneliness. A famous celebrity dying without anyone noticing would instill fear being lonely. People are currently “living in isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, and yet we have never been more accessible” (Marche). Over the years, technology has advanced, exposing many people to social media. Due to this increase of exposure, people are even more
We live in a world where the internet and social media plays a big role. There are constantly becoming less and less physical contact, and fewer face-to -face relations. This is demonstrated by the fact that we keep in touch with each other over Facebook, shopping takes place over the internet, we keep up with our economy whit online banking and meet friends and lovers over online dating sites. In late modern society, we are always available. But are we really missing out on a lot of important stuff, and is this necessarily a bad thing? This is also the theme in Jonathan Franzen’s essay, “Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts” from 2011. The focus in this essay will be on how Jonathan Franzen
In Sherman Alexie’s poem “The Facebook Sonnet” Alexie brings up a controversy, over all social media because it absorbs society into the depths of dark unknowns and prevents physical face to face communication. Even though Facebook allows people to stay up to date with friends, whether they be new or deep-rooted, the platform tears its users away from substantial social interaction with others. People can connect to the world by the click of the mouse and know what is going on at any given time. Social media requires ones everlasting attention, and the addiction is almost comparable to that of a cigarette, one cannot give it up and is always thinking about when one can check it again. People become so caught up in trying to perceive what everyone else is doing, they forget that they have a reality to live and fail to maintain real relationships. “The Facebook Sonnet” belittles the social media platform by emphasizing how obsessed society is with making themselves look perfect for the screen. One is either gripping to their past or obsessing over the present.
The author illustrates in her blog the power and impact Facebook had on the population by convincing to be “a place of human connectivity,” but
Stephen Marche states, “We know intuitively that loneliness and being alone are not the same thing.” He also talked about a research in 2005 from a study of Dutch twins explaining that loneliness is a type of psychological state and that it is about the same as having other types of psychological problems (par. 9). The essence of Stephen Marche’s argument is that Facebook or other forms of social media is making us lonely because we allow it to make us feel that way. We have to realize that we need to use social media with moderation. Too much of anything is harmful, but we learn that from personal experiences. I can go crazy with Snapchat, but I do not let it affect my personality and I do not become lonelier whenever I use it. The point is to have fun with whatever you do in your life and to respect other people for how they live their
Social media, like Facebook and Twitter seems to be growing popular worldwide in the last few years. Have you found yourself or someone else in an awkward situation and instantly pull out your phone to scrawl through Facebook or Twitter just to keep from talking to someone in the elevator or doctor’s office? Is social media like Facebook and Twitter making us lonely human beings? One man, Stephen Marche, wrote “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” published in May of 2012 issue in The Atlantic thinks that social media might play a role in it alongside with other things.
The essay Stephen Marche wrote “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely” is talking about with the technology what the society looks like now, and social media like Facebook and twitter have made us more densely network than ever.
In today’s world, technology is at its peak. However, there was a time when things were getting evolved and websites were created to connect and socialize. For example, Facebook was created with the intent of connecting with people, but it rather forced people to compare each other’s live, which made some people sad. It became successful, but not completely successful. Libby Copeland’s essay, “Is Facebook Making us Sad,” addresses a key factor in how Facebook makes us sad, according to research and some expert testimony. One key factor that I would like to address in the essay, how humans compare their lives with others on Facebook, making themselves lonely and sad.
The title will mislead the audience because to most people Facebook is the foremost social media website in the world. It can’t be possible for it to be causing a decline in human interaction. The artwork shows a man using the Facebook logo as a periscope. The man is inside an enclosure peeking out at the world through Facebook. Pawel uses his satire style and metaphors again to show how people isolate themselves behind screens. People are becoming more socially awkward because of all the mobile devices. Few people have the skill of being able to talk face to face. People find it scary or awkward; it’s much easier to just hide behind a screen. Social media is one of the biggest influence in this growing cultural issue. It seems like everyone has it and post every moment of their life so there is really no reason to communicate. People can just sit at home and know what everyone is doing without even having a conversation with them. It’s kind of scary when you think about it. These pieces go to show that Pawel really knows how to tell a story with a simple painting. The simplicity of his works often elicits a smile or even a laugh, but after further inspection a deeper meaning begins to grow in the mind. His artwork tells a story that many people know all too well, but just haven’t been forced to come to terms with
Maria Konnikova's essay "The Limits of Friendship," analyzes the impact of social media on close relationships, addressing the people impacted by social media use. This essay published in The New Yorker, a weekly magazine with scholarly authors, to inform the public on social media's impact on our lives. She finds that social media has created a dependency on technology and online interactions. Konnikova strives to inform that social media is decreasing close relationships, and persuades that it will impact our future. She argues on the impact of increased dependency on social media on the Dunbar number, hindering the development of future generations. Konnikova succeeds using strong logic and scientific reason as well as appealing to emotions; however, she fails to prove her credibility over the topic and instead relies on the credibility of Robin Dunbar.
In today’s modernizing world, a person who shares their information and likes may result in reconnecting with former friends. These actions may include liking or following a group, posting information of a certain topic, or posting personal pictures of things they did over the years for the world to see. But giving too much information may backfire to the giver, such as the chance to feel lonesome or being stuck in the time in which the person would not move on. Sherman Alexie clearly addresses the problem with this type of communication by composing a Shakespearean sonnet that mentions the problems sarcastically. He notes the flaws that today humanities use advantages on social media, but the viewers would not realize the disadvantage.
In his article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” Stephen Marche argues that Facebook is the vital cause for loneliness and is luring people away from social capital. According to Marche, social networking isolates individuals and creates distance, mostly amongst family members. For some, it is not only isolation but rather social loneliness. The author claims that health can also be effected by loneliness. Nowadays, due to very little verbal person to person communication, he writes that people have never been so separated from one another because of social media. Facebook users, Marche argues, have an addiction to profoundly visit their account constantly leading to the feeling of loneliness and in most cases depression. The author claims that social networking, instead of demolishing isolation, is unknowingly spreading it. Ultimately, However, Stephen’s argument fails to convince due to his abundant false assumptions and the articles confusing organization.