The Atrophy Of Social Life

Stephen Johnson in the article “Social Connections” argues that “technology is dividing us as much as uniting us.” Johnson supports his argument by explaining that technology helps us block out people due to the use of technology. He even states, “We wear white earbuds that announce to the world: whatever you’ve got to say, I can’t hear it”.The author’s purpose is to point out to the reader that technology has pretty much taken over our means of communication. The author writes in a formal tone for critics of the communication technology, and educate the public on the effects that technology plays in our social

Arlie Russel Hochschild adheres to a variety of assertions in his article, “Gen Fill in the Blank” concerning what he thinks a generation means. It was proposed that generations are solely branded by the pivotal impact they undergo as a cohort during historical events; hence, sharing a common response to those events. Hochschild furthers this idea by introducing generational identity and how that’s defined by the conceptions that society invokes upon a generation. Furthermore, he includes that an important factor making up modern day’s generation is the external burden of American Individualism; this universal pressure has robbed us of our ability to care and resulted in a profound deficiency of “cultural expression”.

Tannen believes that much of this breakdown is caused by the lack of people interacting face to face. She feels that our high tech world infused with social networking, email, cell phones, texting and more has given people a way to communicate without actually connecting with each other. “The proliferation and increasing portability of technology isolates people in a bubble-” warns Tannen.

The relationship between people has been changed because of the widely using of new technology. People can easily communicate with other people by using different kinds of methods. Because of the use of those methods, people have more space with others and frequently hide part of themselves on the Internet in order to show the best of them. In the essay “Small Change: Why he Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, Malcolm Gladwell states that the relationship between people can be categorized by strong ties and weak ties. For example, in the past, people communicated by the method of interpersonal hierarchies, which are considered as strong ties. However, with the development of technology, social network, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Skype, which have become very popular in the world, are regarded as weak ties. Moreover, in the essay “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle claims that people are distant with others and get lost in the virtual world through the new technology. She points out that now people communicate with others through technology instead of directing talking to real people. Furthermore, some people suppose that sociable robots as substitutes for people. Both Gladwell and Turkle agree with the idea that technology plays an important role on people’s connection. Technology only creates inauthentic relationship because it hides identity of many disorganized people.

Is society being dehumanized by technology? Or are technological advancements bringing people closer together? In recent years, the growing use of technology has been impacting the way humans function and communicate in everyday life. Accelerating rates of social media usage questions the vast impact on society. Thus, emerging the argument of whether or not social media is playing the role of connecting the world together or tearing it apart and leaving individuals to feel a sense of loneliness.

Sukarno, the former influential Indonesian President once said, “The worst cruelty that can be inflicted on a human being is isolation.” These wise words of Sukarno and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein intertwine with one another on the account that they both display the struggles of loneliness and isolation, and the effects they both have on individuals. Hence the reason why after being isolated for so long, aggression was displayed. Loneliness and isolation are two common cruelties that are constantly inflicted on human beings today. People will shun away from individuals simply because they are different. It is hardly ever noticed when a person is being isolated, because it never comes across the minds of people as a big deal. People are not

In Sherry Turkle’s essay Alone Together, she argue that technology is taking over people’s lives so much that it isn’t good for individuals. Turkle is a person who would like to have face-to-face conversation, rather than talking over the phone or behind the computer screen. She prefers face-to-face conversations. She isn’t a big fan of texting. Turkle blame technology because it is getting rid of the face-to-face conversations in the world. On the other hand, in Gregory Orr’s text Return to Hayneville, he talks about freedom and the guilt they have from old memories. Also, he talks about how to involve himself into the civil rights movement to forget about the past and the guilt you have inside of you. The both authors argues about being lonely. In today’s world everybody faces

One of the myths carried by social media is that it makes users more socially connected, however, it worsens feelings of social isolation. Social media often tries to take the place of face-to-face relationships, ruining healthy ones (Norton 1). Technology has become an essential part of the way people communicate with one another and has increasingly taken the place of face-to-face communication. This allows people to substitute electronic relationships with physical ones, promoting social isolation. Replacing real-world relationships with social media use is detrimental to a user’s well being.

In Stephen Marche’s article, Facebook is a reason people are becoming move lonely and standard. The relationship between technology and loneliness is strong. According to the article people who spend their time on devices and social network sights are finding themselves lacking in the ability to communicate in person. One effect that is brought up throughout the article is loneliness, in which is made the more often one drowns themselves in social media. Facebook in particular, is the

Over time the course of thinking and acting changes amongst the new generations. Human behavior becomes altered to cater toward the new and different ways of thinking or behaving. Society also changes with new generations. This can play a role in how generations differ from one another. Older generations may have been raised to be conservative in aspects of their lives while new generations have new attitudes towards their behavior based the societies they live and are raised in.

To support his argument, Gergen elaborates damages in the community and institution that nurtured independent self, the direct erosion to solitary self. In the pre-modern world, people due to the lack of communication and transportation tools, have fewer opportunities to get in touch with various people outside. Therefore, people form consistent relationships with others, which derive a strong sense of “being somebody” everyone is familiar with. However, the advances in communication enable people to move household often and be in contact with a wider range of friends leading to average weakening bonds with more and fast changing friends. As a result of the decrease in deep relationships, in Gergen’s notion, people receive less sense of identification. Moreover, the multi-voices raised today and the suspicions over speakers’ motivations confuse people from faith to distrust.

For much of our history as a species, humans have understood the need for and the importance of solitude. Entire religions developed out of ideas centered around the individual, and the interactions between individuals and nature, or deities. It is only more recently, however, that engagement in social interaction became prized above introspectiveness. Writer and lecturer Susan Cain credits this change in perspective with the turn of the 20th century and the industrialization and urbanization of the United States and much of the rest of the world: The “agricultural economy [shifted] to a world of big business,” she says, and suddenly droves of people were moving from rural areas into big cities. People who had formerly worked as farmers with just the people they lived with, or others they had known for their whole lives, suddenly had to learn how to interact with vast numbers of strangers in a new, incredibly stimulating environment.

Literary critic Benjamin Roberts uses the gothic genre with a little mixture of the detective genre to critique the growing reliance on technology to communicate rather than actual human interaction. Roberts emphasizes his critique by bringing up the label our generation has been branded with “the loneliest [generation]” (2). Matt Pittman also argues this in his article “Social Media And Loneliness: Why An Instagram Picture May Be Worth More Than A Thousand Twitter Words”, “It is surprising then that, in spite of this enhanced interconnectivity, young adults may be lonelier than other age groups, and that the current generation may be the loneliest ever” (155). “I”’s openness to the loneliness seems a little satirical, however, he’s still trapped with what’s making him insane. He tries to rationalize his preference for being isolated by saying “You might wonder why I locked myself into this white prison, well it’s pretty simple I don’t like my species” (Roberts 1), but in reality, technology has taken his ability to communicate normally as a human being. The Gothic genre emphasizes isolation something that “I” has done to himself. “I” seems to identify more with the characters on Netflix than the people in his classes. The elements of the Gothic genre continue when “I” contemplates his own sanity. “I”’s sanity is not only reflected in the questioning of it, but in the way his mind keeps shifting topics. The short sentences across the story reflect “I”’s lack of ability to

With the rise of technology and the fight for individuality, society is more torn than ever. People are more inclined to cordon themselves off and live within their own worlds rather than interact with family and friends. One of the most

“For each generation must find the wisdom of the ages in the form of its own wisdom.” This is a quote by Erik H. Erikson. Each generation is correlated with a time period of birth. It’s no secret that the time period in which someone was born affects how they view the world. For example, a mother and daughter are in an argument about religion. The mother is making points that are stricter and more conservative than the daughter’s. The reason behind the mother’s stricter views is because of the time period in which she was born and raised. There is a generation gap between the mother and daughter, causing them to disagree on the subject. This example is based on generalized information for the purpose of comparing and contrasting. There will