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Directions: Please print out this draft. Then, read it over and mark the main argument, 2 strong point, and 2 weak points. Please bring to class. Facebook and Technology In this generation alone, the world has been introduced to many technological advances that has systematically shaped society and affected the ways in which individuals live their lives. Facebook, one of the most impactful technologies that has come from the social networking era, has dramatically altered the ways an entire society communicated with one another, but proved to have greater detrimental changes than beneficiary effects. Facebook has allowed for the social connections between 845 million individuals and still continues to influence even more societies with its growing user base. Through Facebook, the lives of friends, families and co-workers are chronicled on a regular basis causing for the simplification of communication that turns individuals into social networking robot-like addicts, lessening one’s ability to function in a society and enables the detrimental comfort in a virtual societal life. Social networking can be defined as a quick means of communication with many individuals at once. Thoughts, ideas and lives are expressed through statuses, pictures and chatting with others. There is a unique comfort in being able to catch up with an old friend with whom one had not talked with in weeks, months or years even. The easy and accessible ways of communicating with another through social networking is detrimental in most cases. To better understand this idea, one must look at communication in its entirety. Communication is the conveying of information between two or more individuals. This exchange is only considered communication if the receiving party actually receives this information and responds accordingly. In a conventional face-to-face interaction, both individuals constantly respond to each other’s thoughts and ideas, whereas on Facebook, an individual may post a status or comment on another’s picture without any time restraints. Time restraints being the factor that helps an individual develop their social skills and abilities that allows them to respond on their feet or answer to unexpected situations. Within a virtual societal life such as Facebook, a user can simply receive the information and can sit there and think of a response. It could be minutes, hours, or days even before the receiving party could potentially respond and have the interaction be considered an actual communicational conversation. It would be silly and even downright odd to imagine a conversation where the receiving party does not respond normally, but rather sit there, stare and ponder on a response. Such social networking interactions do not possess the elements of a normal, day-to-day interaction and detrimentally affects the growth of an individual’s social and communicative skills. When an individual is exposed to circumstances where activities are performed easier, they will tend to utilize that service more so than other services. In Nicolas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Carr discusses the ways in which Google has redefined the meaning of research and be able to access a mass amount of information through a mere click of a button. Carr states that the former ways of research has been abandoned, cultures discarded and individuals rely solely on Google for all their needs. Carr also argues that Google turns individuals into inferior versions of themselves by stating that, “People have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine. That’s the essence of Kubrick’s dark prophecy: as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.” Meaning through the easy and applicable uses of Google and the internet, individuals have become so reliant on its technological benefits that they have, in turn, given up former cultures and ways of doing things and has turned into robot-like individuals, acting out their lives as if scripted. In regards with Facebook, a similar event is happening among many individuals where a loss of former cultures has changed them for the worse. Communication between individuals on Facebook consists of written text and images and like how Carr describes Google as a convenient technology, Facebook is also an easily accessible technology. In spite of Facebook’s convenience, the seemingly harmless virtual interactions’ detrimental effects on individuals, outnumber and overshadow any beneficiary conveniences. The individual will become akin to communicating in a virtual manner, consisting of text to text interactions only. Such habits developed from Facebook communications would then deteriorate the real world societal skills of an individual as a result of their preference of conversations carried out on social networks as opposed to face-to-face interactions. For many, Facebook is not just something to check up on from time to time, but has reached a point where Facebook is a part of their lives. Facebook has become an actual part of many individual’s lives as they constantly want to check on their friends and what is going on with everyone else. The whole concept behind receiving notifications on Facebook, getting comments on your thoughts and ideas and being invited to groups and events is quite intriguing to many individuals, to say the least. The feedback an individual receives from others is intriguing as they often desire their actions to be acknowledged. An individual’s actions is altered and affected by those around them. Even from birth, we are taught right from wrong by our parents and the social norms by our peers. Humans desire acceptance and to be considered an accepted individual into society. An individual’s thoughts and ideas are reflected upon through comments and “likes” from others. Both signify others’ thoughts and opinions on your actions, whether it is a posting of a picture or a writing of a status. Over time, this can subconsciously affect an individual’s self-consciousness and perhaps even develop social anxiety. On Facebook, chances are that when one shares an idea, they aspire to invoke a response out of their peers through comments and likes. This need for others’ opinions on one’s actions will affect real world interactions as it subconsciously affects one’s way of thinking before they act. The alteration is like a tiny, miniscule bug planted into the uttermost depths of one’s mind and it lays there, determining if your actions would be socially accepted or not. Likewise in Carr’s Google situation, Facebook affects an individual’s ability to function like efficiently in a society, or perform without the restrictions of social anxieties and worries of acceptance instilled into them through social networking. The constant need for individuals to check Facebook has become more of an addiction to virtual life on social networks. An avid Facebook user would often times check their Facebook every hour in their spare time or even let the fulfillment of social interactions become a hobby of theirs, consuming much of one’s time and may deprive them from a life beyond the virtual world. It is easy to get lost in the technological advances that Facebook has allowed society to experience. Society has evolved from old cultures and styles and we have found better, more efficient ways to do things. Technology has come into our lives to make them better, so society adjusts to fit that technology into our status quo. Though Facebook allows for easier means of communication, it deteriorates and detracts from real life interactions by turning individuals into robot-like individuals only akin to communicating through social networks.