Social iSolation Prompted by Technology & Social Media Research Paper

Social iSolation Prompted by Technology & Social Media - Research Paper Example Today people hardly find time to speak to their neighbors, colleagues, and friends. Instead, they make relations with unknown people around the world through social media. Evidently this situation leads to social isolation, a potential issue affecting the social development process. According to Cacioppo and Hawkley, â€Å"social isolation is defined as the absence of contact with other people and lack of integration to society and includes the perceived feeling of being isolated from others† (as cited in Uribe, 2007, p. 3). Studies indicate that social isolation can cause depression and other long term psychological impacts on the victims. This paper will explore to what extent the obsessive use of technology and social media promote social isolation. It is assumed that the current trend in the use of social media and technology would drastically affect the social lives of individuals, and hence this issue should not be taken lightly. The primary audience of this paper will be anyone who uses social media and similar technologies to connect with family and friends. The secondary audience includes my professor and fellow classmates. Evidently social media and technology are increasingly used by children and young adults as compared to others, and hence they are highly exposed to its negative impacts. As reported by Lenhart, Purcell, Smith and Zickuhr (2010), nearly 72% online young adults extensively used social networking websites on a daily basis as of 2013. The major social media websites used by youngsters include Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. Today teens and young adults consider social media as a vital part of their life, but they do not recognize the detrimental effects of such social websites on their social skills and personal interactivity. Generally formation of basic social skills including