In the opening of the prompt, the
professor states, “Don’t write the ‘internet has destroyed intimacy’ entry—that
has been done already,” I would question why that seems to be the popular
response. I think that electronic social
network brings people together in ways that were thought impossible just a
decade ago. On The Social Network, it
said Facebook has 500 million members in 207 countries! Those numbers are
absolutely insane! People want to be connected;
it is a sociological, psychological, and biological normalcy to want to be
close to other people.
Social networks, such as Facebook,
may not allow for direct physical intimacy, but they definitely allow for
emotional and social closeness. Even
though direct intimacy is not provided because social networking occurs via
technology, it is indirectly provided. I
actually met my boyfriend on Facebook; we established an emotional and social
connection, then eventually met and created a physical connection. Now we have
a beautiful son and have been together almost three years, if not for Facebook,
I most likely would never have met him.
I also have a cousin who lives in New Zealand who I keep in touch with
on Facebook. If not for social media, I
would most likely have no contact with her because of international phone
expenses. Just last night I sent her a
picture via Facebook of my son snuggling with a blanket she made him.
These small connections have a huge
impact on someone’s quality of life and happiness. There are commercials all the time on TV
about dating sites and how many people have been connected and formed
relationships from those sites. Social networking’s
main concern and goal is to connect people!
I totally agree with your point about how people want to be connected and want to be close to other people. I do however find it ironic to consider this when we look at how people are always buried in their phones and completely ignoring someone who is sitting right next to them. People have to be constantly connected to other people through social media but at the same time are completely oblivious to others around them. That just seems contradicting to me. I do agree that there can be benefits to social media like you pointed out, but I think there needs to be a happy medium between our time spent on our screens and our time spent with those around us.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see your point, its almost as if social media brings us closer to people who are physically far away but further from people who are physically close
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