Zachary Stobbs

Professor Scaife
Rhet 131110 November 2015
Others Think For Us?
Take a moment to think about this; As someone scrolls through Facebook they come
across a post dealing with police brutality. This post is one that dissects a situation where police
had to get aggressive and shames them for doing their jobs. This person scrolling through
facebook is actually quite fond of the police, but once they read the post, their views on the
police begin to change for the worst. Now imagine if everyone who read that post began shaming
the police to a point where they just turned a blind on towards a person who they would have to
get aggressive with. There would be chaos down every road and around every corner. Our world
would basically turn into everyone's worst nightmare, except this time there will be no escaping
it. The criminals, the ones who murder for their own enjoyment, will rule the streets (Fig. 1).
Today's society will be
the one to blame for this.
Todays society is
a corrupt and twisted shell
of what it should be.
Todays society relies on
social media for almost
everything.

We are moving towards a new kind of media and a new kind of culture where anyone has
access to (Allocca). News for example, instead of going to an accredited site, people turn to
Facebook for their news. This site is open to anyone, which means that anyone can post whatever
they want and can twist the story so that it fits exactly with their agenda. This is happening in an
important topic affecting society today, police brutality. Social media twists almost every story
to make it seem that the police are murdering people in cold blood, which causes people to hate
the police. If everyone hates the police, do we think that future police will keep on their track to
become an officer or turn around and run as fast as they can? This leads me and many others to
wonder, how has social media negatively affected our lives and our views?
Social media has negatively affected our lives in many ways. These ways are: that we
have less face-to-face interactions with people, children and teenagers do not know how to have
a real conversation, it has opened a new and easier ways to shame people and organizations, and
has opened a new avenue of unreliable news. Social media has also made it easier for others to
learn personal information about anyone.
Today, Societys way of communication with one another is not from face-to-face
communication but from texting, tweeting, posting, emailing, and sharing articles and videos on
a social media website. A Jan. 2012 Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School
study found that the percentage of people reporting less face-to-face time with family in their
homes rose from 8% in 2000 to 34% in 2011. 32% reported using social media or texting during
meals (47% of 18-34 year olds) instead of talking with family and friends. 10% of people
younger than 25 years old respond to social media and text messages during sex (Social Media).
This is proof that Social Media is consuming our lives, if people are using social media inside of
their homes instead of using that time to bond with friends and family, then what is the point in

even having them (Fig.2)? Also, if parents are doing this in front of their children instead of
encouraging face-to-face communication, then how will their children react to a situation that
requires face-to-face communication? The children will have trouble getting jobs, making
friends, and they will have trouble carrying a conversation on unless it's through a text message
or facebook post.

Social media has also opened up new ways to publicly shame and bully people. The
police, for instance, as read earlier, the police have been getting shamed on social media for
some time now because in some situations they have to get aggressive. Societys first reaction to
a police officer getting aggresive seems to lean towards police brutality and more than likely a
video recording of this act will become viral within days or even hours (source). Due to this
video becoming so popular, everyone sees it and believes the story that is attached to the video,
even though the story may not be true. This situation could also back up one of my other point of
social media opening new avenues of unreliable
news.
Actually, Social networking sites are a
top news source for 27.8% of Americans,
ranking below newspapers (28.8%) and above
radio (18.8%) and print publications (6%)
(Social Media). If over a fourth of Americans
get their news from social media then one
unreliable news story will reach twenty-five
percent of America within hours or even
minutes.
Not too long ago a woman named
Justine Sacco posted Going to Africa. Hope I
don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white! which
was actually meant to be a joke making fun of
the bubble that America is in, but one of her

followers on twitter interpretedtook that thought asthat joke was Justine showing off the power
she had (Ronson). It is funny how just one simple tweet taken out of context can have such a
major impact on someone's life. Shortly after the tweet Justine got on her flight and turned her
phone off, which is when the tweet went viral and a new hashtag started (Ronson). While she
was on her flight the #HasJustineLandedYet started because she had no idea how far the tweet
had gone and no idea what was being said (Ronson)(Fig. 3.). Social media ruined Justines life
all because of one little tweet.
Some may say that social media is a great leap forward in communication technology. I
agree with with this statement, but only to an extent. Social media holds great amounts of
information and can be used to instantaneously transmit a story, video, or even songs dto anyone
in the world. This alone makes social media a very dangerous tool that should be handled with
extreme caution. If the use of social media stays how it is, then we will find more and more
situations like Justines. The reader wants to know more about unreliable news sources.
In conclusion, social media is a dangerous tool that can destroy people's lives, keep the
youth from having an actual social life outside of Facebook and Twitter, and can keep family
apart even though they are in the same room. Social media can be used for god but society first
needs to accept that they allowed social media to negatively affected their lives and how they
view certain situations. People are letting others manipulate story after story, then they believe
the story enough to start a virtual revolution from it. Therefore, social media is a negative in our
lives and others do think for us.

Works Cited
"Social Networking ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
"Human Interaction." HASTAC. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
"Social Media, What Have You Done to Us?" - The State Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Vogel, Erin A. "Login." UALR. ScienceDirect, 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Allocca, Kevin. "Why Videos Go Viral." Kevin Allocca:. TED, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Ronson, Jon. "When Online Shaming Spirals out of Control." Jon Ronson:. TED, n.d. Web. 29
Nov. 2015