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Does Technology Promote Loneliness?

Technological advancements in society have eradicated face-to-face communication between people. Today, technology and its components have become a significant part of societal functioning. Most people in contemporary society will depend on technology and other social networking to perform their tasks effectively. For instance, students will rely on the internet for research, while individuals in the corporate world will depend on technology for enhanced business operations. The perspective has changed how people interact with others, especially because of the networking options. For instance, more people and organizations use Facebook as an appropriate platform of interaction and increased connectivity. In such a way, Facebook has greatly reshaped how individuals connect and primarily led to establishing a home for some people. In most cases, social networking has been associated with promoting loneliness, but I feel this is not the case—loneliness results in mental problems ranging from anxiety, depression, and emotional distress. On the contrary, Facebook as a social media platform does more good than harm to human mental well-being. Facebook does not promote loneliness; instead, it allows community members to find a space to anonymously share hidden aspects of their personality, develop self-confidence and social skills, and remain informed and entertained even though most people will risk being lonely 1with the aim of becoming e-famous.

Individuals in society sometimes go through tough experiences that are not easy to talk about with other people. Essentially, the people fear that their experiences are not safe and opening to others would only do more harm than good. Through the Facebook social platform, individuals can create anonymous identity difficult for people to recognize person's true identity. In such a way, people feel protected, safe, and connected to others who could be going through similar experiences. Hence, anonymity provides room for interaction with hidden personality aspects that cannot otherwise be revealed in the real world (Andalibi and Andrea Forte). Such discussions could be effective in providing the correct guidance, therefore, overcoming the barrier of opening up in face-to-face conversations.

Second, some individuals will use Facebook media to feel connected to society because they are lonely. Most importantly, Facebook provides individuals a chance to grow and develop their self-confidence and social skills (Metzler and Herbert Scheithauer). For instance, when a person is shy, they are more likely to have fewer social interactions and be lonely. Fortunately, Facebook gives this group of people the liberty to choose how they express their concerns online based on a given perspective in life. In such a way, an individual who lacks social skills has the opportunity to interact and establish relationships online. Besides, when people seek refuge on the Facebook platform, they are allowed sufficient time to look at messages, which could help them clear their head or establish an enhanced conversation with another person.

Furthermore, Facebook has become a hub of information and ideas. It informs the reader of the important and relatively current events. At the same time, it acts as a great source of entertainment continues to encourage discovery so that if an individual is interested in a certain activity, their activity will be catered for by the social networking service or the group within a service. Facebook brings together individuals to develop their interests and find people who share similar interests (Vale and Teresa Fernandes). Therefore, individuals with common interests are brought together, promoting enhanced innovation and recreation.

However, even when Facebook has been identified to reduce loneliness, it has sometimes been used to show its users' unreal side. Users have the free will to control what they share with others. Therefore it does not fulfill the relationships and connection needs. Although the platform provides us with significant human support, the quality support provided is not enough. Thus, individuals, despite having enhanced connections, will end up feeling lonely. This is because technology will only make it easy for people to stay in touch, but the connection is kept distant. In such a way, most people will only stay connected to become e-famous.

Work Cited

Andalibi, Nazanin, and Andrea Forte. "Announcing pregnancy loss on Facebook: A decision-making framework for stigmatized disclosures on identified social network sites." Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2018.

Metzler, Anna, and Herbert Scheithauer. "The long-term benefits of positive self-presentation via profile pictures, number of friends and the initiation of relationships on Facebook for adolescents’ self-esteem and the initiation of offline relationships." Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2017): 1981.

Vale, Leonor, and Teresa Fernandes. "Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook." Journal of Strategic Marketing 26.1 (2018): 37-55.