Thursday, April 11, 2013

Revised Causal Argument (Essay 1)


Allie Cuccoli
ENGL 102-039
Causal Argument Essay
28 January 2013
Technology the Inhibitor: The Downfall of Human Interaction.
It seems that a majority of the American population are proud owners of a fancy piece of technology.  Walking around places such as Boston, or on a college campus, individuals are seen to be engulfed in their iPads, laptops, or smart phones.  Over the last few years, this observation has become increasingly apparent wherever one goes.  However, what have become less noticeable are physical and verbal interactions when people are surrounded by their peers.  In social settings, individuals fail to start conversations with those surrounding them, and instead they opt to communicate with the world via technology.  Due to the improvements being made in technology and the increasing usage of these gadgets and the Internet, people have become less social; as a result of these causes, society is impeded from forming strong social connections and relationships between one another on physical, intimate and emotional levels because of a disconnect from the physical world.
In order to form solid relationships, individuals must be actively engaged in their environment, and in the here and now.  It is much easier to meet new people, and maintain conversation with another person when the phone is tucked away.  The new digital tools are rather distracting and take people’s attention away from things that matter.  For example, in the article, “Your Life is Fully Mobile,” a survey conducted by Time reported that “48% said they spend too much time looking at their mobile device and not observing the world” (Gibbs).  Also, according to Angela Moscaritolo, a study conducted on data usage, such as data used to access the internet, or using apps that require a wireless connection, reported that data usage has risen dramatically in the United Kingdom, which indicates, “smartphone users are growing increasingly reliant on their mobile devices.” People are spending too much of their time honed in to their electronic devices, thus they are not immersing themselves in the surrounding environment. The first step to establish physical social connections is for people to become aware of their surroundings and realize what is transpiring around them in that moment.  However, people are so enamored by their phones and using them so frequently, it has practically become an addiction that inhibits people from functioning socially with others around us.  Another shocking statistic from the Gibb’s survey is that 17 percent of the participants said that they “check their phone at every meal regardless of who they are with” (“Your Life”).  Rather than socializing with those around them, people are more engaged in their conversations online than the conversations they could be having in the physical world.
            Along with this increasing dependence on smartphones and other digital tools to communicate with, there has been steadily increasing amounts of people using the Internet and  a huge variety of apps to access Facebook and other social networking websites to establish and maintain relationships. However, these websites are preventing members of society from forming intimate bonds with one another.  According to the article, “Me and my 400 Friends: The Anatomy of College Students’ Facebook Networks, Their Communication Patterns and Well Being,” intimacy is defined as “disclosure of private information requiring high levels of trust and confidentiality between partners” (Mango, Taylor and Greenfield).  Furthermore, intimate relationships are crucial in maintaining individual and overall well-being (Mango, Taylor and Greenfield).  Facebook and similar websites may offer more chances to meet new people online, however these sites allow for the creation of short-lived, meaningless friendships and relationships.  According to the previously mentioned article, a study that was conducted produced the theory that “technology, like urbanization, will enable manifold instrumental relationships with relative strangers or superficial acquaintances” (Mango, Taylor and Greenfield).  Online social networking sites are a product of the ever improving technological progress we are experiencing, however, these sites are impeding peoples’ abilities to form close friendships or relationships with significant emotional connections.  In the article “Electronic Intimacy,” Rosen discusses the results of a meta-analysis of online dating.  According to the study, “people become cognitively overwhelmed when they search through hundreds of dating profiles.  To cope they ‘must objectify’ the people they are sizing up for some sort of emotional connection” (Rosen).  Society has easy access to the Internet via phones, thus people can easily connect with other cyber users; however the best connections that occur are those formed through physical confrontation.
On the other hand, some may argue that technology has improved society’s ability to stay connected with others even if thousands of miles separate individuals from one another.  According to an article written by Gibbs, “in a poll conducted by Time Magazine, 73% of civilians in India said they feel more connected with their families, which was 21 points above the national average” (“Your Life”).  Due to the vast amount of technological improvements, people are saying that they feel more connected to peers and family members who are distant. 
Although there are certainly more means of communication, these methods decrease the likelihood of forming meaningful and intimate relationships because there is no face–to-face contact with these new ways of reaching out to others. Face to face contact is vital when forming and maintaining a strong relationship with other individuals.   Therefore, through such contact, it is possible to accurately interpret the tone of their voice, their body language and their eye contact in order to determine the strength of the relationship. Furthermore, it is more sensible to convey the true meaning of one’s message via confrontation than via text messaging, Facebook chat or email; it is easier to understand the message because one can pick up on social cues through face-to-face communication.  However, technology acts as a barrier for this process to occur; it enables the user to hide behind a shield that prevents the true underlying message from being understood. In an article by Reich et al., studies have shown that interacting online with friends limits opportunities for face-to-face contact (“Friending”).  Physical contact is the most crucial step in forming bonds of intimacy and trust in relationships, whether or not such contact is a familial, friendly or romantic relationship. Furthermore, it is a lot easier to convey messages in person rather than via text messaging, Facebook chat or email.  Without physical confrontation, communication is ineffective.
At first technology may seem as though it is improving the way members in our society communicate with one another, however it is preventing us from creating enduring, confidential and intimate relationships.  Smartphones, and other similar electronic devices are constantly being updated so that we can access our emails, and communicate faster with our peers.  People have immersed themselves in their devices so much that they have become overly reliant on them.  This dependency is serving as a distractor; people focus their time and attention on what is occurring in the digital world on their devices rather than concentrating their attention on the physical world, where the real people are located.  As a result of the improvement in technology, the Internet has become the home of famous and useful social networking sites.  Although these sites seem to connect the world efficiently and enable better communication, the emotional connections that solidify relationships are lost because of the lack of physical confrontation.  It is time for people in our society to look up from their cellphones, put them away and say the words, “Hi there, how are you?” rather than texting the impersonal “hey! :)”

Works Cited
Gibbs, Nancy. "Your Life Is Fully Mobile." Time 180.9 (2012): 32-39. Academic  Search
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Manago, Adriana M., Tamara Taylor, and Patricia M. Greenfield. "Me And My 400
            Friends: The Anatomy Of College Students' Facebook Networks, Their
Communication Patterns, And Well-Being." Developmental Psychology 48.2 (2012):       
369-380. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.
Moscaritolo, Angela. "U.K. Provider Sees Data Usage Double In One Year." PC
            Magazine (2012): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Feb. 2013.
             16.1 (2013): 8-13. Academic   Search Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.
Reich, Stephanie M., Kaveri Subrahmanyam, and Guadalupe Espinoza. "Friending,
           Iming, And Hanging Out Face-To-Face: Overlap In Adolescents' Online And Offline
Social Networks." Developmental Psychology 48.2 (2012): 356-368.  Academic Search
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Rosen, Christine. "Electronic Intimacy." Wilson Quarterly 36.2 (2012): 48-51. Academic    
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