There are widely differing views on whether social media has helped people become closer or disassociated them more than ever before. This essay will closely scrutinize both viewpoints before concluding that I am in favour of the later.
On the one hand, it is understandable why some think social media could help connect people together. To begin with, social media has made it easier for us to keep in contact with our family and friends, regardless of geographic locations. For instance, students who study abroad can keep in touch with their families and friends to share about their daily stories by using video call or text messenger on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Therefore, this would help overseas students compact feelings of loneliness and homesick, negatively affecting their mental health. Furthermore, social media is also an ideal place where people have more opportunities to share the same interest. As a result, people can find a group that they have a sense of belonging to, which helps them have more confidence and integration with the community.
On the other hand, I side with those who claim that using social media could separate people more than before. Firstly, due to the development of social platforms, there is a lack of face-to-face interactions among people. Thus, an increasing number of people struggle to build new relationships in real life. For example, students may be open-minded when making new friends online, but they tend to be shy and less confident when starting a conversation with strangers in person. Secondly, people, especially adults, are easily addicted to social media sites. As a result, they often spend hours staring at their screens throughout the day without paying attention to the people around them, causing them to become disassociated and isolated from their community
In conclusion, although there are various benefits that social media has widen mutiple chances to connect people, I am of the opinion that utilising social media would make people have a distant attitude.