Sean Oulashin

Jon Albertson

11/AP Lit

12 Feb. 2015

Connected But Alone

Humanism was the movement during the Renaissance that put emphasis on being an individual.

The movement centered heavily around the human, rather than God, encouraging people to make their

own decisions about impacting change. Today, society has not moved away from the humanistic way of

thinking, rather, society advocates for it even more. This advocation is amplified with the use of social

networks, which encourage people to make posts about themselves or others. Sites like Facebook,

Twitter, and Instagram encourage users to express themselves with original content. Online, one can

become whoever they want to be, but it is only in moderation that social media can be of benefit towards

that individual. Without a proper balance between the online world and the real world, the divine “Spirit”

is lost.

Sheryl Turkel, a professor at MIT, wrote a book called Alone Together. The book details the

consequences of smartphone usage, especially in the younger generations. In her Ted talk “Connected But

Alone” given in 2012, she talks about how people “want to be together, but also elsewhere” referring to

their online presence. “The reason social media is so attractive to users is because everybody wants to

customize their life.” Turkle is referring to how social media can allow one to become whomever they

want, making posts in a certain style or with a certain “voice.” She continues on to say that social sites are

so enticing because they give complete control to the user over what they want to say, how they’re going

to say it, and when. Users can edit their comments, which is something you can’t do in real life.

Smartphones and social media have great potential to take away the spirit of humanity. Users of

social media sites, in a way, are playing “God” by creating their personalized environment on a given

social media platform. But, is it benefiting life outside the seven-inch screen? According to a study

conducted in March of 2013 by Muhammad Sarwar, “communication addiction” is a disorder that deals
with the constant yearn for communication (via text or social media), even when no communication is

needed. The same study shows that 60% of teens admit to being “addicted” to using their smartphone.

Smartphones are taking away the inherent social skills of a human to have actual face-to-face interaction

with one another.

Being connected makes one feel less alone. Though the person is surrounded tons of people that

are online, he or she is also surrounded by real life, which moves hundreds of times faster than it does on

the internet. One can’t edit one’s life in real time. Someone can’t spell check their words before they

come out of their mouth. Real life allows space for mistakes, human error, and slip-ups - the small things

that make humans unique from other species. Sometimes, the only way to truly learn something is by

screwing it up first. With the internet, mistakes are seldom made. Finding the perfect balance between the

two is what’s necessary for a successful and happy existence. Smartphones serve as a distraction that

eliminates any fear that can come from the real world.

With everything becoming part of the digital world, one might ask if there even is a point of

having actual interaction with people. What’s important about communicating non-electronically are the

feelings conveyed from one person to another. Interactions are heavily based on the intonation of one’s

voice, facial expressions, and movements. Some things just cannot be translated into texting or social

media, no matter how many emojis one adds.

Works Cited

Turkle, Sherry/TEDxTalks. "Sherry Turkle: Connected, but Alone?" YouTube. YouTube, 3 Apr.

2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

Sarwar, Muhammad “Impact of Smartphone’s on Society”, 2013.

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