Loneliness and Social Networks

Loneliness and Social Networks

1. Introduction
2. Hook: Today, people are increasingly attached than ever before. The emergence of social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, are presently being used by 1 in 4 people globally. In spite of this, the rates of depression and anxiety have increased by 70% in the last 25 years (Hung 1).
3. Thesis Statement: Social networks generates a dopamine-determined response circle to condition users to stay online, stripping them of significant social skills and further keep them on social medial, leading to social isolation.
4. Body
5. Social Networks
6. Definition: Social network refers to a type of virtual community whose fundamental objective is to establish interactions using online tools among people and share unified social, business, romantic, and other interests (Yavich, Nitza & Zeev 10).
7. Statistics: A study by Statista validated that over 79% of internet users in the US connect to social networks; 1.6 billion people globally with one or more social media accounts on social media (Clement 1).
8. Evidence: Study shows that online social activity promotes changes in present patterns of attachment in human society, particularly in young adults and adolescents (Yavich, Nitza & Zeev 11).
9. Loneliness and Social Networks: Empirical Studies
10. Definition: Loneliness refers to the difference between an individual desire for social relationships and actual social relationships (Yavich, Nitza & Zeev 11).
11. Support: Preliminary research shows a direct relationship between loneliness and numerous social network conversations with virtual friends (Dror & Gershon 2).

• The use of the internet promotes less face-to-face contact among close social ties. Social media networks and mobiles have replaced in-person contact, leading to isolation.
• Social media relates to less interaction with neighbors or leads to reduced levels of participation in local terminology relations.

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• The use of the internet is linked to cocooning or withdrawal from the public as well as semi-public spaces.

1. Support: People spending more time on social media more than two times a day reported twice the odds of experiencing perceived social isolation compared to those that spent half an hour daily or less on the internet (Hobson 1).

• Social media users experience less contacts with personal networks

1. Support: Research shows that reducing social media use leads to a decline in loneliness and depression (Hunt et al. 760).
2. Social Media: Use and Gratification Theory
3. Model: The theory was initially used to assess motivations and patterns of audiences of the traditional media, such as television, newspaper, and broadcasting. The patterns were used to explain peoples’ use of media and motivations described as reasons for the use of media.
4. Support: The theory posits that users or audiences of media vary in gratifications expected from mass media. The method assesses social media impact through psychological approach and compares it to traditional tends (Urista, Qingwen, & Kenneth 218).
5. Evidence: Experimental studies shown that gratifications of using social networking sites, which combine content and processes, facilitate unique communication requirements, leading to social consequences and biased rewards for its audience or users.
6. Evidence: Online lurking leads to gratification since social information retrieved from Facebook assisted subscribers to feel distanced from the peer network. Similarly, receiving timeline posts and comments from other users through social networking platforms led to an improved self-image that people witness on themselves (Urista et al. 224).
7. The Case of Facebook as a Social Network
8. Introduction: Facebook is a leading social networking and social media platform founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg.
9. Facebook allows subscribers to control friends’ lists, send requests, receive friend requests, and communicate (Wang 1).
10. Effects: Facebook established a social-behavior revolution as well as a change in the social skills of university students.
11. Studies show that personality characteristics influence a person’s ability to accumulate Facebook friends. For instance, people with social anxiety appear to use Facebook more intensely but have fewer friends than extroverts that use the platform more moderately, yet document having more friends (Yavich, Davidovitch1 & Frenkel 12).
12. Quality of Life
13. Support: Loneliness prominent in people that avoid in person social interaction. Research suggests that lonely people often turn to media for entertainment and informational needs that they lack in interpersonal contexts
14. Evidence: Research on self-esteem, life satisfaction, and the symptoms of challenging media subscription hints that people with low levels of life satisfaction and higher levels of self-esteem shared high scores of problematic use of the internet (Jensen 12).
15. Support: The association between disturbed internet use and other pathologies, such as loneliness and depression, suggests that social media abuse is symptomatic to other disorders (Nasibova 58).
16. Conclusion
17. Summary of Arguments-restatement of thesis
18. In the last decade, social media use have led to a serious impact on people’s daily life
19. Social media adds a new layer to human interaction, leading to loneliness and low quality of life
20. Most users of social media experience depression or loneliness. In fact, lonely people tend to use
21. Call for Action
22. Create awareness to reduce the use of social media where possible.
23. Approach social media mindfully
24. Future research should focus on possibility and control for loneliness based on age, sex, and income.