Mikaela F.

Opeña

Topic: Does Facebook and other social

medias create isolation?
Social media make us feel lonely, indeed. People, most especially teens, who use social media a
lot, are isolated. We may think or feel that we are so close or connected to our loved ones or
close friends when we use social media 24/7, but unfortunately, it does make us more isolated
to the real world or to the people that surround us. Why? Simply because social media covers
up our confidence especially in communicating; we are absent yet, in reality, physically present;
and, it makes us lazy.

We are physically, mentally, and sometimes, emotionally fixated in the medium called Social
Media. We are so focused on using social media that sometimes we forget to make time for our
loved ones and close friends near us. We may feel so connected with them but in reality, it
doesn’t help us to become friendly or socially active to the real world or to the people that
surround us either. What’s the good side of it is that, we become more confident, sometimes
we become more talkative than we are in real life. But still, some of us can’t apply how good
they are in talking and communicating with their friends on the internet in their lives. Instead of
being more confident in real life, some of us become more shy and think it’s better to stay on
social media rather than being friendly and communicating with someone face-to-face.

We are absent yet, in reality, physically present. One example would be the use of messenger.
Even at home, when parents and kids want to tell something to each other, instead of talking
about it while having dinner, they’d use messenger. What’s the problem with that? It keeps
them isolated from each other when they are all present in one roof at that time. Also, there
are times when parents would scold their children through chat. The children are taking it for
granted because they think that parents are not serious about it and they can get away with it.
Yet, still, it is convenient for parents to ask for errands when kids are out and about to go home.
They can easily tell them to go the supermarket or store for some kitchen needs.
Lastly, it makes us lazy. Funny, you may think. In this time that technology is so much a boon,
we tend to abuse it rather than use our muscles to work. A very big example would be letter
writing. Yes, it is faster to send a letter through email but the feeling of closeness, sincerity and
uniqueness can only be felt through hand-written letters. Another example is instead of visiting
a friend who lives near us, we prefer to communicate through video chat.

I therefore conclude that social media make us feel lonely, indeed, even if it’s convenient to
communicate, interact, make business, get surveys, and the like, through social media, you’d
still miss the important things in life. Warm hugs, passionate kisses, heartfelt discipline and
advices from parents and friends, and the sincerity of hand-written letters – these are some of
the essential things for humans. As life becomes more comfortable with the rise of technology,
human feelings and needs are becoming less of a must. Laziness has been a common behavior
for everyone. Much as we would like to think that it makes us closer to each other, social media
is isolating us in the real sense of the word, as it keeps us from coming out and connect on a
personal level. Are you contented with just video chats and messaging even if the people
concerned are just around the corner?