Kristian Monroy

Professor Gifford
English 50 Tuesday& Thursday
19 November 2015
A Loss of Humanity
Social media has grown some much within the 21st century. With the advancement in
technology and the inventions of Facebook, Instagram, Tweeter, and smartphones people can
now share every experiences with the world. People can just click way at a computer or cell
phone and everyone can see what they have done for the day. Social media has evolved not just
as a way to share ones experience but as way to express oneself. People use to show how they
are with the use of a mouse. But as it continues to grow something is lost. People of today have
become more dependent on social media. With this dependents many people start to lose a sense
of what make them human. People become addicted to it and lose their ability to communicate
on a physical level. They also lose the proper way to express themselves to other. In turn social
media has become negative effect on today world.
According to a study done by Isabella Wolnizak she state that Facebook has several
advantages However, the excessive use of this kind of social networks might cause several
consequences including misuse, dependence and addiction, as well as potentially affecting life
and sleep quality(page 1). Wolnizak show that the use of Facebook can leaded into addiction if
excessively used. But as of today many people have overly used Facebook. The reason for this
over use is because of smartphone. Smartphone have given people unlimited access to Facebook
and in turn give rise to an addiction. This addiction doesnt just stem from Facebook but all of

social media. In Wolnizaks research it show that the addiction to Facebook only, doesnt affect
just one aspect ones life but affect ones entire life as hole. Some start to lose part of themselves
as this addiction grows. People slowly lose their ability to physical communicate with one
another. They also lose the ability to properly express themselves. People become trap within
social media unable to escape from their addiction and with smartphone being easy to get a hold
of. It makes it even harder for people to let go of their addiction.
As people become addicted to social media a quality is lost with in them this quality is
communication on physical level. Smartphones added on to this addiction by replacing the
martial way of communication with electronic one. An example of this is what Sherry Turkle say
in her book How Computer Change the Way We Think. At a lunch for new faculty members,
several senior professors in engineering complains that the transition from slide rules to
calculators had affected their students the students with calculators had lost their ability to do
back of the envelope calculations and with that, an intuitive feel for the material.(Tukle
339). In the say way calculators affect students ability to calculate equation the same goes for
smartphone and social media with communication. Social media has made it easier to commutate
with others but the physical aspect of commutation is lost. People can have great conversation on
a social media websites but when they try to talk outside of the website they have the hardest to
time starting up a conversation. As people become more reliant on this way to communicate they
slowly lose the proper way to communicate with other. In turn many people lose a part of
themselves that make them human.
As Laura Pappano state Selfies raise important questions about identity, culture and
technology how we craft images for different groups (family on Facebook, friends on
Instagram), or reveal or hide about our identity?(Pappano). When people post themselves on

social media they put up the thing that best express themselves. Social media has grown to be use
as a tool to express one identity. As this has become a trend amongst many people it come with a
problem. The problem is that people can lie about who they are on social media by creating a
false image of themselves. In doing this many people are fooled into thinking that who they
express themselves on social media is who they are in life. This creates a bad habit in people.
Many people become relent on social media as way to figure out oneself. The lie that they put on
they become and they forget the true person behind the posts. As they continue with this prost
they become lost within social media. People start to lose site who they are and essentially they
become addicted. They can no longer express themselves properly to others without the aid of
their post on their social media sites. This show that if one is not careful with social media they
can lose a part of themselves.

Social media in its self isnt all bad it does have some benefit. One of them being the
benefit of communication across vast distance. Many people are able to communicate with their
family and friends within other country with just the use of a phone or a computer. What would
have taken mouths or even years to get a hold of someone across world now takes a couple of
seconds. Social media can be used for good but as of today many people have misused it. People
have become dependent on it. Many have lost their identity because social media does allow
someone people to properly express themselves. Even with the benefit of communication many
people simple use Social media because they feel that it is much easier to do then start up a
conversation on a physical level. People are becoming in slaved to social media unable to escape
with some people not knowing that they are trapped. Social media in way is make us slowly lose
are humanity.

Work cited
Pappano, Laura. "The Scholarship in Selfies." <i>The New York Times</i>. The New
York Times, 01 Aug. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Turkle. Sherry. How computer change the way we think. Pages 339-345
Wolniczak, Isabella, Jos Alonso Cceres-Delaguila, Gabriela Palma-Ardiles, Karen J.
Arroyo, Rodrigo Sols-Visscher, Stephania Paredes-Yauri, Karina Mego-Aquije, and Antonio
Bernabe-Ortiz. "Association between Facebook Dependence and Poor Sleep Quality: A Study in
a Sample of Undergraduate Students in Peru." PLoS ONE 8.3 (2013): n. pag. Web.