Is Facebook Response for our Loneliness - Essay Example

?Alejandro Canahuati WRD-104 June 21,  Is Facebook response for our loneliness? Yvette Vickers, a former B-movie star and Playboy playmate who was popular for her character in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, died a lonely death in her home. She did not have any children, was not a group member, nor had she any friends. Reports suggest that Vickers had died long before she was found by Susan Savage, a fellow actress and neighbor. During her last days, she looked for companionship from fans whom she met through Internet sites and fan conventions. When news of her death got out, she was the subject of over 16,000 posts on Facebook and more than 800 tweets. In “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” published in the May 2012 edition of The Atlantic magazine, Stephen Marche looks at the phenomenon of Facebook and how it affects our relationships as human beings. In a similar way to most of us, Vickers’s network of communication had increased yet decreased at the same time. Many of us can be easily accessed but yet we live in isolation. In recent years, technology has moved us to a way of life (technology) that we wholesomely rely on. In the extreme, several miles of fiber-optic cables were installed between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and New York Stock Exchange in order to increase the speed of transmission during trading by three milliseconds (Marche 2012). But, in spite of absolute and instant communication, we can suffer from loneliness. The more the new socializing modes, the less of an actual society exists. The more the connection, the lonelier we become. As of last year, Facebook had over 800 million users and revenue in excess of $3 billion (Marche 2012). The company further aims to be the largest internet IPO ever. Although it is the first site to have more than a trillion page views in a month, the way in which it is used is causing harm to its users without them knowing (Lushing and Atwan 45). Even Facebook’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg, who is one of the youngest billionaries in the world, experiences loneliness like the rest of us. As can be seen in the film The Social Network, his loneliness is evident when he sends a friend request to his ex-lover and then waits for a response while refreshing the page (like many of us have desperately done). Unlike the Friends circle in Google+, which suggests that people only include his or her real friends, Facebook has created a cyber world that includes people with whom we have never interacted. This depicts the interference that Facebook has brought about in relationships—it promotes the isolation that it was designed to overcome. Many people thought that Facebook was developed as a solution to people suffering from loneliness. This innovation seemed to be a solution at the time; however, recent studies show that loneliness rates in American have significantly increased. Additionally, isolation has increased unhappiness in the U.S. To understand the real effect social media forms have caused, we need to realize there is a difference between loneliness and being alone. Being alone is a beautiful thing. On the other hand, loneliness is a sad thing; it is also a psychological condition. Analyzing data from Dutch twins in 2005 showed that they both had similar genetic conditions as they did psychological problems (Marche 2012). Nonetheless, loneliness is difficult to explain. The UCLA loneliness scale is the best tool to measure the loneliness of a person. Studies using the scale have shown that loneliness is increasing rapidly within a short time. A leading American study shows about 20 percent of Americans suffer from loneliness (Marche 2012). Single people suffer from loneliness more than married couples who are confidants. Another study found that active believers who perceived God as helpful and nonfigurative were less lonely than those who saw God as wrathful. Due to increased rates of loneliness there is a fear of an epidemic across Europe, as suggested by health experts. Loneliness and being alone are both on the increase despite being of different meanings. Furthermore, studies show that there has been a tremendous decrease in the number of confidants. This has led people to believe that a decrease in confidants has prompted the increase in professionals who act as such. These professional carers help solve what is regarded as ordinary problems. The increase in the demand for professional carers is because of the threat of societal breakdown. Although Yvette Vickers may not have died from loneliness, it may have contributed to what caused her death. Despite the effect loneliness may have on a person's health, evidence shows that most Americans use their money to acquire it. For example, people who move to the suburbs to get away from the incommodity of the city. One evident aspect of the American secular culture is getting away from the state, family, and entirely from everyone. For instance, the greatest poems, essays, and novels all have something to do with the self. The culture of America is that of personal authenticity and self-expression. Additionally, tensions along with the impulse to come together in societies that cling and suffocate have been the main causes of being alone. People are considered to be through the process of separating. Bowling Alone, authored by Robert D. Putnam, attributes the decrease in the value and strength of interpersonal network to the various tendencies in the life of Americans that have grown with each passing day (Putnam 151). Previously, digital technology enabled the isolation trend to a level that was unprecedented. A popular 1998 article showed that increase in the use of the internet coincided with the increase in loneliness (Marche 2012). In contrast, critics of the study argued that those who were selected for the study were statistically more likely to become lonely as time passed. A current study conducted in Australia demonstrates a complex association between being lonely and social networking. It established that Facebook users have lower loneliness levels socially but higher loneliness levels in the household. Facebook allows for extra relations outside the household, but at the family relationships’ expense. Alternatively, it may be that individuals who are unhappy in their families try to find companionship via other ways; for example, through Facebook. In addition, the research established that those who are lonely spend more time on Facebook than those who are not lonely. Moira Burke, a recent graduate student at the Human-Computer Institute at Carnegie Mellon’s, conducted a study of Facebook users that indicates that the impact of Facebook is dependent on what is presented. According to the study, communication that is composed has an effect on loneliness more so than communication that involves clicking once. Moreover, semi-public communication reduces the level of being lonely. On the other hand, Facebook’s non-personalized usage relates to being lonely or disconnected. Non-active use of Facebook also increases depression. Nonetheless, Burke does not support the claim that Facebook causes loneliness. She points out that those who are lonely on Facebook are also lonely in the outside world. John Cacioppo reveals in his 2008 book, Loneliness, how being lonely affects humans’ physiological functions (Patrick & Cacioppo 210). Lonely people seem to have higher levels of the stress hormone in their morning urine than people who are not lonely. According to the authors, Internet communication permits intimacy alone. He adds that a person’s social relationships outside Facebook determine his or her relationship within Facebook. In one of his experiments, it was concluded that those who had face-to-face interactions were less lonely than those who had online interactions. However, he sees Facebook as a medium for being lonely or not (Patrick and Cacioppo 210). It is perceived that social networks or technology has not caused human loneliness. Loneliness is caused by humans themselves by choosing how to use machines. Facebook, in its part, enables people to be social while, at the same time, keeping them away from reality. Critics of Facebook argue that individual representation of Facebook is highly mediated, continuous, and prevents impulsiveness. A huge part of Facebook is made up of the connection between distance and intimacy, or the distance illusion and intimacy illusion. Facebook changes the nature of solitude by mixing desire for isolation and self-importance. Facebook is considered to contribute to the huge cases of isolation and loneliness among people. The American people had not idealized the isolation caused by Facebook when it first started up. The fact that the computer was on when Yvette Vickers body was discovered in her house proves that it had some hold over her life. Facebook has revealed that there is a difference between connections and bonds, and humans can live well without instant connections. Works Cited Lushing, Evan and Atwan, Greg. The Facebook Book. New York: Abrams Image, 2008. Print. Marche, Stephen. “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, May 2012. Web. 20 June 2012. Patrick, William and Cacioppo, John T. Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. Print. Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Print. Read More