Khatchadourian 1

Georgio Khatchadourian
Vana DerOhanessian
English 115
27 October 2014

Facebook Then, Face it Now

Social media may have been the greatest creation of the 2000s. The invention of online
social media sites sparked an unexplainable effect in our society. Due to the creations of
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many other platforms people are able to keep in contact with
friends and family that they don't necessarily see everyday; they are even able to keep in contact
with others around the world. Today, Facebook is used for much more, such as connecting with
people, creating events, finding out the news, advertising products, and even knowing what our
celebrity crushes are doing every minute of everyday. However, social media such as Facebook,
is changing our society in ways we do not recognize. Facebook is creating a socially awkward
society by affecting our communication skills, a cruel society by promoting judgment, and an
overall lazy and ignorant society by changing the way people live their everyday lives.
Although social media has many great benefits, one of the problems that may arise with the
use of Facebook is that it may lead to a socially awkward society. In pervious decades, people
used to communicate in person. People used to invite others to birthdays with actual birthday
cards. People used to actually knock on doors. But what happened? Just imagine a room filled
with teenagers that have never met each other before. Refer to Figure 1 for a prime example of
what would happen. What would most likely happen is the all the teenagers will be looking on
their phones, scrolling through their twitter feed and liking pictures on Instagram rather than
conversing. Today, people will go on social media rather than talk to a stranger or create a

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Facebook event rather than take the time out of the day to actually make birthday cards and hand
them out in person. People do not take the risk of facing others in person, instead they text or
send messages to others on Facebook. In an online article Are We Socially Awkward Because of
Technology, written by B. Courtney, a college student out of Houston Texas, She explains how
people that are socially awkward in society are becoming the cool kids behind the computer
screen. However, this is not the case for everyone; but what if it does become the norm? Soon we
will forget the world of in person conversations, birthday cards, and even regular everyday
conversations.
Everyone knows Facebook is a convenient form of communication, but it may have
become the primary choice of communication. In Blackboard Connectss Communicating With
Students in a Web 2.0 World, it explains how communication on collage campuses is evolving
over social media and SMS text messages. This is not only for educational purposes but
everyday conversations as well. There are many things that are said in person that are considered
normal now over social media. One reason for this is the fact that communicating over Facebook
does not come with the same risks as talking in person. When you tell someone that you do not
like something about him or her it is a lot easier when the person you are talking to in not present
in front of you. You do not feel scared of what they might say. They cannot harm you or criticize
you if they are not in front of you. For example, if you are telling a girl or guy your feelings is a
lot easier over social media or texting. You do not get butterflies in your stomach waiting for a
response like you would in person. It is the same for the other way too. If someone were to tell
you something personal over social media, it would give you time to respond. You do not have
to respond right away and in the moment like you would in person.
Facebook does have its benefits. However, there are things that need to be brought to

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peoples attention. One of which is interpretation. Things people say over Facebook may not
always be interpreted the way they are sought out to be. Even the pictures we post, the everyday
Selfies, can be interpreted in a different way than what people want them too. According to
Brandon Van Der Heide in Computers in Human Behavior, pictures and visual images that we
post on Facebook or twitter can be more powerful than words themselves. Van Der Heide even
discusses how pictures on social media are being misinterpreted and can actually have a
powerful effect on our society (200). Rhetoric is all around, even in the pictures we post on
social media. The phrase a picture tells a 1000 words is a prime example. Everyone interprets
things differently, even pictures. A picture someone posts of himself or herself smoking a
cigarette may be thought of as a sign of adulthood and attention grabbing to their peers, but to
somebody else it can lead to harsh judgment and cruelty. For example, in figure 2, a girl is
smoking marijuana. Not only is this considered inappropriate, but if she posted this on Facebook,
what would others say about her? What would she do if a job she is applying for found it? This
cannot only occur with the everyday pictures people post, but with the comments and statuses we
post all the time, and that too, just like pictures, can be misunderstood.
Touching back upon the judgment that might result because of a picture over social
media, it brushed over an entire other topic that has become a huge problem in our decade as a
result of social media. Cyber bullying is something that started with the start of social media and
has become more then everyone can handle. Cyber bullying became an important issue
intertwined with social media due to harassment and using this technology as a source of
bullying at the comfort of their own home. People bullying in person is a lot different. Social
media gives people the freedom to harass other due to the fact that it is unsupervised and there is
no in person interaction. The main reason cyber bullying has become widespread is because it is

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assumed that there is no consequences. There is no hall monitors, no teachers, no security or
anyone looking out for bullying the way there would be in person. Therefor it is a lot easier to
disrespect someone online and completely harass people when there is nobody stopping you.
Most importantly the biggest change that Facebook has made to the nature of our society
might be the way people express themselves. This can be both good and bad. It is a great way to
share with people what they like, connect with people that share common interests and share
pictures. But why does Facebook give people the option to post pictures? Why does it give
people the option to like a picture? Facebook is giving people a chance and a reason to separate
and judge one person from the other. Peoples interpretations of each other have changed because
of Facebook.
People are basing themselves more on the number of friends they have on Facebook,
rather than real friends. Stephanie Tom Tong in To Much of a Good Thing. Relationships
Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook, states that Facebook
itself can be changing the definition of the word friend and making it broader (533). People
that have 200 friends are considered popular. Someone that does not post selfies are often
considered self-conscious or ugly. People that post pictures about sports all the time might be
considered a jock. Facebook has created a society that is judged more on social media then in
person. People can be misinterpreted on Facebook and other forms of social media that can lead
to harsh judgment in ways they do not recognize. Social media combined with the judgment of
others can lead to horrific circumstances.
Facebook is changing society. Whether that is a good or bad thing, it is up to the opinion
of every individual. People can believe that social media is changing society in better ways then
ever. However, I disagree. The problems that social media is causing in our society is far

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outweighing the benefits. Creating a society that is not based on conversing in person, a society
that is becoming more and more lazy, a society where everyone is judged and interpreted over a
computer screen is not a beneficial society in my eyes. Yes, social media is a fun way to
communicate with friends, express yourself, in the end, make life easier, but it there are
problems that social media is causing that people need to be aware of.

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Works Cited
Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More." Facebook. N.p., n.d.
Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Westerman, D., Spence, P. R., & Van, d. H. (2012). A social network as
information: The effect of system generated reports of connectedness on
credibility on twitter. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(1), 199-206.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.09.001
Tong, Stephanie Tom, Brandon Van Der Heide, Lindsey Langwell, and Joseph B.
Walther. "Too Much of a Good Thing? The Relationship Between
Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook." Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication 13.3 (2008): 531-49. Web.
Blackboard Connect. "Communicating with Students in a Web 2.0 World."
Blackboard.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 2014.
Courtney, B. "Are We Socially Awkward Because of Technology." Teenlink.com.
N.p., 2013. Web. 2014.
Figure 1.

Figure 2.