Ways Facebook Contributes to Loneliness Essay

Technology according to Chopik (551), can be described as a combined list of scientific objectives and investigations which encompasses techniques, process, and skills to produce some software, for example, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook among others. Additionally, through technology, there have been invention and innovation of different advanced software, for instance, laptops and phones among others devices that have been discovered to be consuming much of human's available time. Social networking together with various devices such as mobile has introduced significant debates on whether their effects on different individuals are either positive and negatives. For example, Facebook has stirred a lot of discussions in the media, school, and in general population regarding whether it promotes loneliness among its users or not. However, due to the presence of a significant amount of literature, it is clear that Facebook fosters loneliness since when people are logged in Facebook, they appear to be more secluded from the rest of the population and the general society. Additionally, it takes much of their time while they are browsing and it enhances immoral acts which make its users isolated from the entire community. Facebook promotes loneliness because it instills envy feelings, social snacking, and decreasing intimacy and creates a companion illusion.

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Facebook stimulates a significant degree of loneliness since in most cases it causes a feeling of envy when its users view the type of images other individuals are uploading in their timeline. This furthermore gives Facebook users a sense, for instance, other people are living a happier, prosperous, and better lifestyle than them. Additionally, having envy feelings makes people detach themselves from the actual world and other which results in a loneliness life. For example, when a teenage girl sees images of her friends eating expensive dinner, she may develop some feelings of envy. This can be due to having views such as her friends left her because she does not belong to their class or does not have money. Many studies which have been conducted on the relationship between Facebook and loneliness, reveal that young adults between the age of 18-35 years consume at least two hours daily while on Facebook. These individuals are likely to have a propensity of becoming socially withdrawn and lonely than those who do not spend more than two hours on Facebook. Furthermore, Park (25), argued that envy feelings caused by Facebook are a serious issue which requires to be on front line of the majority of the research. These studies should recommend ways to avoid envy feelings when using Facebook which contributes to the loneliness of many individuals.

Facebook additionally has substituted most of the social and real-life interactions and experiences due to social snacking. Social snacking encompasses actions such as browsing via the profiles of other individuals or even reading their comments in the absence of making yours (Deters & Mehl, 580). Facebook users may think social snacking is a form of social engagement and when performing it, they may temporarily not recall feelings of loneliness facing them. However, similarly to junk meals which makes you feel empty and bloated after some period, social snacking also makes Facebook users was a lot of time as well as feel lonely than before engaging in it. According to a research conducted by Skues, Ben, and Lisa (2414) shows that every moment a Facebook friend or follower comments or likes an image of another individual, their mental health reduces by 5-8%. Additionally, the commenting or liking feature was also discovered to be related to social snacking which increased the loneliness of Facebook users.

Facebook also decreases intimacy and creates companion illusion which in turn results to loneliness. Most Facebook users' have the propensity of giving precedence to other people who are not near them over individuals close to them (Deters & Mehl, 582). For instance, a father who may be picking his son from school and at the same time may be chatting with his wife or friend on Facebook. This draws away most of his attention from his son to Facebook. Lack of attention in most cases makes children feel lonely due to the view that their father does not devote much time to him. Conversely, Facebook also creates a virtual replacement for the real family and friends. It permits individuals to uphold emotional distance due to intimacy illusion which additionally results in loneliness for its users. Therefore, Facebook causes loneliness not only to its users but also to people around them.

Conclusion

It is evident that Facebook promotes loneliness on its users from the discussion which is also supported by various scholars. This is due to its ability to cause feelings of envy of its users when they view other individuals' images. The envy feelings, in turn, lead to detachments from the real world making Facebook users lonely. Loneliness has also been seen to sprout from social snacking which Facebook users think it reduces loneliness. However, after they are ceasing social snacking, they reveal more loneliness than they were before engaging in it. Ultimately, loneliness has also been seen to be as a result of decreased intimacy and companion illusion created by Facebook. Therefore, with this evidence backed by various scholars, it is clear that Facebook is the leading cause of loneliness stretching from children to adults which affect not only its users but also people surrounding them.

Works Cited

Chopik, William J. "The Benefits of Social Technology Use among Older Adults are Mediated by Reduced Loneliness." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 19.9 (2016): 551-556.

Deters, Fenne Grosse, and Matthias R. Mehl. "Does Posting Facebook Status Updates Increase or Decrease Loneliness? An Online Social Networking Experiment." Social Psychological and Personality Science 4.5 (2013): 579-586.

Park, Sungkyu, Et Al. "Manifestation of Depression and Loneliness on Social Networks: A Case Study of Young Adults on Facebook." Proceedings of The 18th Acm Conference On Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing. Acm, 2015.

Skues, Jason L., Ben Williams, And Lisa Wise. "The Effects of Personality Traits, Self-Esteem, Loneliness, and Narcissism on Facebook Use among University Students." Computers in Human Behavior 28.6 (2012): 2414-2419.