Sanbar Number Book Report

In the last ten to fifteen years accompanying the dawn of social media, means of communication among friends and strangers have been easier than ever. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has grown into the largest social media site on the Internet with 30 million users and counting. The ability to catch up with former high school friends who are now across the country or see how an aunt in Pittsburgh has been doing since the birth of her son are now as simple as the click of a mouse. However, the amount of “friends” acquired on social media may not be an accurate reflection of how many close relationships one truly shares. In an article from Bigthink.com titled “Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?”, Steven Mazie gathers research from Pew Research Center about statistics surrounding Facebook

With the application of Logos in the article for relationships, we can see the dramatic difference from how the social media outlet was planned to be used. Remember Zuckerberg wanted to “chart a “social graph” of human relationships the way that cartographers once charted the world.” We now have so many people that we call “friends” on Facebook, that we have no real human connection with them. If you tried hard to find links between some “Facebook friends” the only link you would find is their social media outlets. It is illogical to call someone a friend when if you were in a jam they would not help you out, because they do not personally know you. Mathis said it more eloquently

The brain is incredibly plastic, and, from past research on social interaction, we know that early childhood experience is crucial in developing those parts of the brain that are largely dedicated to social interaction, empathy, and other interpersonal concerns” (239). The Dunbar number is the maximum number of people an average person can have in her social group is 150. This number might change because of the way social media has been growing. We have 150 casual friends, 50 close friends, 15 friends you can turn to for sympathy, and 5 best friends and family.

In this day and age where people can be friends with anyone despite their location, we ask ourselves, are those connections actually strong? In “Is Facebook Making us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche, the idea that Facebook helps people isolate themselves is presented. Marches tries to prove it through his use of persuasive techniques and his own believes.

Over the years, social media has changed from Six Degrees, which was a site similar to Facebook and founded in 1997, to what is now Facebook and Twitter. All of these social media sites had one thing in common, connection. When “friending” or “following” other people on these sites, you may or may not know everyone you come into contact with. Then at a certain point the only thing you want out of this to have as many “friends” or “followers” as you can. Gladwell argues “that it is the quality of connections that people have (rather than the quantity of them) that leads to success in social change”.(p.230) In my opinion, I argue that you could have both quantity and quality, as well as a strong tie between “friends” and “followers” in relation to a central cause or idea.

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.

With 50% of users logging on to Facebook everyday and more than 35 million users updating their status’s everyday (Facebook a, 2010), it posses the question what effect are social networking sites, mainly Facebook, having on our friendships? Are we extending our social networking and enriching them? Or are the effects of the ease and accessibility of a ‘friend’ demeaning our relationships?

At first, I agreed with Stephen Marche, author of “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?”, but after doing some of my own research I would like to retract my original position. We cannot blame technology for our own human condition. However Stephen Marche begs to differ. “At the forefront of all this unexpectedly lonely interactivity is Facebook, with 845 million users and $3.7 billion in revenue last year” (Marche). Stephen Marche believes Facebook is making us lonely because it is changing the dynamics of traditional friendships (Marche). He also blames Facebook for the rise in human isolation. From 1950 to 2010 a 17 percent increase in households of one were reported (Marche). Does Marche not realize that many happy Americans

In “Me and My 400 Friends: The Anatomy of College Students’ Facebook Networks, Their Communication Patterns, and Well-Being,” Manago, Taylor, and Greenfield seek to understand if there is a trade-off between large networks of social connections on social networking sites (such as Facebook), and the development of intimacy and support among today’s generation of young adults. Published January 30, 2012 and consisting of 12 pages of research, the study was conducted by online survey distributed to students at a large urban university. Participants answered questions about their relationships by sampling their Facebook contacts while viewing their online profiles. The findings of this study indicate the transformation of the nature of intimacy in the environment of a social network site, while also emphasizing the psychological importance of audience in the Facebook environment. It is suggested that social networking helps young adults satisfy psychosocial needs for permanent social relationships in a geographically mobile world.

South Park has an episode where it talks about social media. Now this episode show how are people in society care how many friends they got. I think its more of an issue then people make it seems. You can be a totally different person then you are in real life. You have many people posting lots of pictures were they can buy the whole store an in realty they cant. Stan and his friends where competing about how many friends they could get. Some people add people they don’t even know just to have

A prevalent issue regarding social media and interactions exists between researchers and social network users. Social media is currently changing how relationships between people are created. Relationships can exist through people across the world through social media and can produce more emotional bonds with friends that you can see everyday. On the other hand, social media also could present conflicts due to the fact that some of these relationships can become unhealthy and that people could change to be more dependent on internet friends, becoming introverted.

The term “friendship” has really changed over the years as technology has begun to advance. In “What I Didn’t Write About When I Wrote About Quitting Facebook,” Michael Erard exaggerates the way people react to others quitting social media, specifically Facebook (Erard 161). Erard implies that the people who we are friends with on social media, aren’t necessarily our friends who we see every day and have a special bond with: “Then, as one does with one’s friends, I would call each person up or

Trying to find a good friend is like finding a four-leaf clover; it's hard to find, but lucky to have. The term friendship is a unique bond between two individuals—whether it’s a charming boy and a geeky girl, an elder woman and a young adult, or even between a cat and a dog. Friendship takes no form, instead it is the individual trust toward others. Dating back to the creation of the human species, people were familiar with the idea of companionship, in addition of being a companion, it relies on a sense of comfort and protection. Presently, people still share that bond of comfort and protection toward others, but the term companionship has changed into what is now known today as friendship. The world is currently evolving into a digital era, a generation where everyone and everything are connected by the power of computers, including meeting new people across the world where it’s impossible to meet in person. However, even though it’s easily accessible to make friends online, it can never favor those who live locally. The reason why is because in the digital world, people are highly deceptive and are limited in communication while in comparison to those who lives locally. However, it isn’t wrong to make friends online, even though, some of them are misleading. It’s more suitable to have friends locally as they have better communication efficiency, living proof of actual identity, and as well of physically spending quality time together.

Social media improves the way people communicate with others. It allows them to meet new people. At the click of a button, millions of strangers all over the world who would have never met otherwise are able to connect with each other. Many people believe that internet friends are not as valuable as real life friendships. However with websites like “skype” and instant messaging sites, long distance friendships can be as intimate as real life friendships because social media allows friends to see each other face to face and spend quality time together whenever they want to. Because of this, internet friendships should no longer be considered taboo and should be seen as normal human relationships, “It’s entirely possible to have hundreds of

Every generation is shaped by the environment they live in. Influential events such as diversity, violence, and technology have impacted the lives of many millennials by being a part of their generational personality. In technology specifically, the rise in usage of social media has resulted in a global effect. Robin Dunbar, a psychologist and anthropologist, developed a number known as the “Dunbar Number” which calculates the number of people whom one could sustain a social relationship with. Since social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed millennials to “keep track of people who would otherwise effectively disappear” (Konnikova 237), it may be argued that it is not as necessary to rely on face-to-face interaction for emotional fulfillment (unlike previous generations). Since millennials have grown up with the emergence of the internet and social media, they are more likely to be addicted to social media. Millennials are more vulnerable to social media addiction because they have been exposed to social media from a young age, the reward centers of the brain are activated by interaction with social media, and social media allows millennials to express their thoughts online without in-person criticism.