Social media, mobile phone, and our lonely

lives

Social media and mobile phones increase people’s loneliness, dependence, and exposure of privacy

Photocred: Dobbs Ferry (istockphoto)

By: Helen Wu

The connection between social media and smart

phones

Photocred: Jennifer Conley (Flikr)

To use your social networks to their full potential, you need to access them from your phone so you can

share your favorite moments as they happen

Photocred: Karly Domb Sadof

"The idea that I have to monitor my Twitter account, email, Facebook, cellphone and land line …is TOO

MUCH." – Sherry Turkle

Dependence on social media, the need of our

online connection

Photocred: Ara Bedrossian

A Facebook page or a Twitter feed each provides so many

automat ic listeners

Instead of going out and meeting actual human beings with whom we can develop a relationship, we spend time chatting online with people we

barely know

Photocred: Erom Kpmasspm

It is as though we use [people we meet online], need them as spare parts to support our increasingly

fragile selves .

Photocred: Rachel Souza

Studies have shown that the comments on your Facebook profile

picture strongly affect your level of perceived attractiveness

Photocred: John Souza

One of the differences between our self-image in real life and online is more ability to change our look, and also

m a s k our identity.

Photocred: Dove Beauty Campaign

Dependence on smart phones

Photocred: Miso soup design

Alone yet connected

We are together, but each of us is in our own bubble, furiously connected to keyboards and

tiny touch screens

If we are unable to be alone,

we are far more likely to be lonely.Photocred: Andreas JD (Deviantart)

“Someday, but certainly not

now, I’d like to learn how

to have a

conversation.”-a 16 year-old boy

Photocred: odeku03 (Flikr)

“The occasional day where my phone isn't charged or I leave it behind, it feels almost as though I'm naked in public .”

– Michael Weller, a senior at New Trier High School

Photocred: Paul Mood

Young ppl are so addicted to their mobile phones they feel like they’ve lost

a limb without them

Photocred: Seanyboy (Wordpress)

Technology has created a situation where we are treating each other as though we

were stalkers.

Photocred: Stephen King (Flikr)a

The c o n s e q u e n c e s of dependence –

power of the companies that hold our information

Photocred: NatUlrich (Shutterstock Images)

“There are no pictures of my two young kids on the Internet, because I don’t want

to lose control of the images. It’s a permanent record.” – Barss

Photocred: Lao An (Flikr)

“Their (online user’s) data are not only being

archived but also analyzed and scored.” – Fertik

Photocred: Baris Simsek (iphotostock)

[with Facebook Home], Facebook is going to be able to track your every move, and

Every Little ActionPhotocred: Hustvedt (Wikimedia)

Everything you do and say on Facebook can be used to serve you

ads

Photocred: Prashant

Google asserts the right to combine all the information it can obtain from any

sources, including those never authorized by the provider

Photocred: R.G. Daniel

The world seen through Google’s omnipresent eyes (from Google glass)

Photocred: Paul Wagenseil

Cred i t

All images are licensed under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 agreement and sourced from various image hosting websites such as Flikr, Wikimedia, Shutterstock images, Getty images, and iStockPhoto

References• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-k-clemons/google-privacy-case_b_1522874.html• http://techland.time.com/2013/05/02/the-real-privacy-implications-of-google-glass/#

ixzz2TOgv5IMl• http://mktg-matters.blogspot.ca/2013/01/facebook-privacy-changes.html• http://gigaom.com/2013/04/04/why-facebook-home-bothers-me-it-destroys-any-notion-of-p

rivacy/• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wygant/how-do-the-internet-and-i_b_651832.html• http://www.pcworld.com/article/2030662/why-smartphones-are-the-rightful-kings-of-social-

media.html• http://www.forbes.com/sites/jondube/2012/05/08/why-smartphones-are-the-future-of-soci

al-networking/

• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304708604577502672286303452.html• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html?pa

gewanted=all&_r=0

• http://mashable.com/2013/02/15/social-media-and-the-selfie/• http://

www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9714616/Mobile-phone-addiction-ruining-relationships.html

• http://www.ctvnews.ca/more-youth-use-smartphones-to-log-online-u-s-report-1.1193559#ixzz2Qnxqu5cd