Nathan Pham

Mrs.Wettlaufer
Composition 1
10/31/2016

Pham 1

The internet is affecting Society

During this era the internet has played a major role in our society. It has done many good
and bad things. The internet specifically has played a huge role in the way people socialize. The
internet has affected the way people socialize in many different ways, and social media has
played a major role to why we have these major changed in society.
The internet affects many individuals, specifically teens. I say this because teens are more
likely to prefer interactions over the internet rather than face to face. This is a problem because a
study by Nie and Erbring (qtd. in Shim, Young Soo) states that many teens become lonelier
because they have less interaction with their family. The reason why this is happening is because
teens rather use the internet for other purposes like chatting with friends, browsing the web, and
watching online videos. This affects their desire to spend time with their parents.
A questionnaire was sent out to 800 students, and 657 came back. The results were, 25%
of respondents replied that Internet use decreased their desire, as opposed to only 10.2% who
replied the opposite,(1;vol. 10) This questionnaire shows that the internet does not have the
same effect on everyone. But what it does show you are that the internet does play a role on the
youths decision to socialize with their family.
Social media also played a role on the youth. According to Wendy Chan Wing Lam,
Teens use social media to find reliable information (78; vol. 5). This all comes back to the
problem that teens rather use the internet rather than interact with others in the real world. Social
media causes people in general to communicate online rather than face to face. Wendy Chan

Pham 2
Wing Lam states that, social media acts as a place where people can react to social action and
talk to each other (79; vol. 5).
Social media is causing many people to interact with one another online rather than
socializing in person. This is a problem because social media acts as an easy way for anyone to
post their opinion to a large amount of people. Social media is able to pull a majority of people
because having a computer and access to the internet is easy to achieve today. The internet in
general makes it easy for people to talk to their friends, family, and even new people.
According to Wendy Chan Wing Lam social media is a part of society because it helps
people interact in groups (81; vol. 5). This shows that social media also allows people to form
groups easily. This allows them to technically gather together and speak just like a club would
for example. Which proves the point that social media does play a major role into why people
prefer the internet over face to face interactions.
The internet isnt all too bad though because it does also act as a way of new
communication. This in general is a good thing because people are able to obtain reliable
information more easily than before. The internet also technically makes us more sociable
because we are interacting with others.
According to Sarma Anirban, people who use the internet a lot met more friends every
week compared to a non internet user (214; vol. 18). This shows you that the internet also has
positive effects. This also means that the internet has also made it easier for people to meet new
people. This leads to creating more bonds that people never would have created.
Sarma Anirban also stated that, online communication has made it easier for people to
create new bonds, and maintain existing bonds (215; vol. 18). This shows you that the internet

Pham 3
has had another positive effect on society because it is able to help people in creating and
maintaining friends. This also shows you that social media has affected society in a good way
because social media is another form of communication people can use.
The internet also serves as a good alternative for when people cant interact with each
other face to face (Anirban 215). This shows that the internet has made it easier for people who
do not have time to meet face to face. This is a positive effect for society because it allowed
people who could not meet face to face to interact with each other. This leads to the fact that the
internet has made it easier for people to maintain and create new bonds.
Sarma Anirban has also stated that, the internet makes people want to interact with one
another (216; vol. 18). This basically means that the internet has made many want to interact
with one another. Which means the internet is accessible to many, and it also shows that the
internet is changing society. The internet is in fact helping people be more sociable, but at the
same time this can lead to less human interaction because it is so easy to just interact online.
The internet has in fact made a huge impact in our society. It has created many ways for
people to socialize with one another, but it has created a lot of positive and negative changes.
These changes though cancel each other out. The internet has in fact proven to be a good way for
people to interact with one another, but it has caused some to lose the desire to want human
interactions. Social media has played a tremendous role on society, and no one can deny that
overall the internet in general has made its mark on society.

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Work cited
Shim, Young S. The Impact of the Internet on Teenagers Face-to-face
Communication. Global Media Journal, vol. 6, no.10, 2007., pp.
1http://ezp.tccd.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/21303956?id-7079.

Sarma, Anirban. INTERNET USE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR: A PERSPECTIVE.

Information Studies, vol. 18, no. 4, 2012., pp. 221220http://ezptccd.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1315916597?accountid=7079.

Wendy Chan, Wing L. Exploring the Influence of Social Interaction, Pressure and
Trust in a Social Media Environment on Political Participation: The Case of Occupy
Central in 2014. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, vol.
5, no. 4, 2015., pp. 77-101http://ezp.tccd.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1728965804?accountid=7079.