Final Argumentative Essay

Yechan Bae

English 21003, Section M

Professor Matyakubova

22 March, 2018

Final Draft of Argumentative Report

Social Network? Or an Anti-Social Network?

Abstract

            The current epoch of social networking is changing the ways humans communicate and socialize. Because social media is now responsible for communication, business marketing, and entertainment, it is important to discuss whether the development of social networking is giving a positive impact in our society. To examine this issue, this paper will discuss whether social media promotes the freedom of speech, examine its correlation with depression, and analyze the result the lack of privacy in social media sites bring.

Key Terms: Social Media, Freedom of Speech, Depression, Privacy

Social Network? Or an Anti-Social Network?

            In today’s internet society, it is tough to find someone without a social media account. With phone carriers competing for faster internet speed and smartphone companies developing new filters and better camera functions, the world has become very dependent on social media for communication and entertainment. Opposing side suggests that social media promotes freedom of speech, is not responsible for depression, and that sharing of private information will create better friendship. With the majority of the global population heavily relying on social networking sites for communication and entertainment, research suggests that social networking is not a beneficial habit, as it obstructs freedom of speech, causes depression, and brings the risk of danger due to the lack of privacy.

            The Oxford English Dictionary defines social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” Social media has grown from just being a source for communication to being a source for news, business marketing, and entertainment as well.

            The history of social media does not trace itself too far back, as the first social networking sites, MySpace and Linkedln, gained prominence in the early 2000s (Addweek). In 2006, a 22-year-old undergraduate of Harvard University developed the most popular social networking site in the world today, Facebook. Facebook has grown from having 12 million active users in 2006 to having more than two billion active users by 2017 (Addweek). Following the invention of Facebook, other social networking sites were invented, including, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, and many more. 

Not promoting freedom of speech

            With more than 81 percent of people having social media accounts in America alone, social media has become a popular place for communication (Statista). As the first amendment of the United States constitution implies, it is a matter of big importance whether social media promotes the freedom of speech.

            Samantha Goodyear, a writer of the Huffington Post, describes social media as a place that gives people “so much freedom” (Goodyear). In her article in the Huffington Post, she defines social media as an environment where people encourage each other and share personal stories. She further explains that this freedom of voice on the internet is a “powerful” and “really important” feeling for social media users. While it is agreeable that the freedom of voice should be encouraged for people as much as possible, Goodyear’s conclusion that social media promotes freedom of speech is a misleading and an invalid statement. Dr. Jeff Nalin, a clinical psychologist and a chemical dependency intervention specialist, argues that social media does not promote freedom of speech to its users (Nalin). He explains that social media has become a place where people “only highlight their best moments” as they “want to show off to the world when posting online.” With this notion that social media is a censored place with only positive thoughts and events, it is unsuitable to say that social media gives freedom to people. There is no freedom in social media, as “even though everyone [have] problems, people don’t like to post the negative events of their lives online,” since everything in the newsfeed suggest that everyone else is having a great time (Nalin).

Depression

            Social media has become a market place where people express and discuss topics ranging from personal thoughts to even political views. The method of liking, commenting, and sharing each other’s posts allow it to become common for social media users to get passionate with the responses they collect from their online friends. With the growing interest of social networking among people, it is necessary to question whether social media alleviates depression. As the Oxford English Dictionary defines, depression is a “mental condition characterized by feelings of severe despondency and dejection.” With more than 81 percent of adults in the United States alone now being social media users, it is questionable whether there is a correlation between social networking and depression (Statista).

             The impact of social networking to the daily lives of its users can be tremendous, as social media is now responsible for several things, such as communication, business marketing, and entertainment. Based on a survey conducted by researchers in the Pew Research Center in Washington DC, social networking has no direct correlation with depression (BBC News). With the survey of 1,800 people, the researchers concluded that social networking is not responsible for causing depression to its users. The researchers further explained that social networking instead works as a “coping mechanism” for stress (BBC News). This conclusion made in the Pew Research Center is unreliable for two reasons. First, the survey was gender exclusive, as all the 1,800 participants were women (Pew Research Center). With this gender exclusivity, it is inappropriate to provide a conclusion that applies to all social media users. Second, the questions of the survey were focused entirely on the use of Twitter (Pew Research Center). With more than 60 trending social networking sites, limiting the survey to only one specific site suggests no diversity, therefore, there is no validity that the same conclusion applies to other social networking sites (Websitehub).

Danger due to the lack of privacy

            As social networking has become one of the most mainstream activities, the topic of privacy is an indispensable subject in discussing today’s “information age” (Madden). Many social media sites constantly require and ask its users to update one’s general information, such as age, gender, and nationality, to even more private and personal information, such as address, phone number, and hobbies. Social media sites also send notifications to their users for information update. For example, as shown below in figure 1, Facebook encourage its users to post a new status by asking “What’s on your mind?” There are other ways social media sites encourage their users to keep posting, such as creating a trend called, “Throw Back Thursdays,” where people are encouraged to upload an old photo of themselves or their friends. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Privacy is a “state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people.” It is a matter of big importance whether social networking sites protect the privacy of their users.

            In 2010, at the Crunchie awards in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, expressed that privacy was no longer a social norm and that with breaking the privacy, people become closer and friendship become more intimate (Johnson, 2010). In his speech, he explained how people are comfortable sharing their personal information to public and that “social norm is just something that has evolved over time” (Zuckerberg, 2010). Truly enough, the limitations of privacy in the social media has drastically sunken, as the New York Times’ headline of the article in October 4, 2014 expressed the thoughts of the social media users: “We want privacy, but can’t stop sharing.” With 2.13 billion monthly active Facebook users, with an average of 510,000 comments, 293,000 statutes, and 136,000 photos being uploaded daily, Facebook is a place where a huge amount of public and private information is being shared and communicated (Noyes, 2018).

            While the idea of sharing one’s personal information to the public might be considered as the social norm, having one’s information available in a public place can also be a factor for danger, possibly causing the person to become a victim of stalking with no awareness of the potential risk that follows. In March 2009, a Korean family residing in the Philippines, as shown in the figure 2 below, experienced traumatic stalking as well as receiving threatening messages. The victimized family is a family of my own, and the story was testified by my father, Kichang Bae, in March 14, 2018. The one who performed the victimizing was a Filipino male who worked for our family as a driver. After being fired from the job, the anger lead the person to stalk our family on Facebook and to attain the family’s personal information such as their address, phone number, and the name of the school the kids were attending. Having these information, the ex-driver sent threatening messages to the family, letting them know that he is aware where they live and what school the kids go to. Fortunately, nothing that the ex-driver threatened achieved real life consequences, however, the following six months were terrifying for the family. This specific example that my family experienced explains the level of danger the lack of privacy in social media can cause. In this case, Facebook happened to help the perpetrator to stalk and attain the information necessary for threatening. Although the founder of Facebook explains that the lack of privacy in social media sites is a social norm people have to accept, its consequences leave room to inflict serious damages.

Conclusion

            It has become evident that social media does not promote freedom of speech to its users, is a cause of depression among many of its users, and it puts the users in a position for possible danger due to the lack of privacy. Instead of promoting freedom of speech, social media has become a censored place where they encourage only positive thoughts and life events from their users. Studies conducted to explain that social media is not related to depression is proven to be unreliable and have many flaws, causing it to be impossible to be taken with legitimacy. Social networking sites are not providing effective security for the users’ privacy, causing their users to experience many dangerous events due to the information leak. While this paper provides with proven facts and reasoning to show that social media is a dangerous practice, this does not mean that it has to be completely banned. Just like everything else in life, with understanding that social media is a censored place with only positive events, with an ability to control one’s emotion and level of passion for the content in social media, and with awareness of what personal information to provide, it is absolutely possible to use social media for the benefits they provide.

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