Karim Adada
Prof. Dania Adra
English 203
October 21st, 2015
The
hyperlink above will lead you to an article written by Ron S. Doyle posted on
the website www.psychologytoday.com.
In his text, Doyle gives a series of results from various researches in which
the subjects were internet using students regarding their overall happiness.
Results show that the percentage of happy students increased while that of
unhappy students decreased over the course of three years. Doyle then
immediately links this change to the use of social networks – facebook in
particular – stating : “But
consider for a moment, if you will, how modern social media may contribute to
what David G. Myers, author of The Pursuit of
Happiness: Who Is Happy—and Why, calls the four Secrets of
Happiness:” and
proceeds to list these four secrets and how facebook helps users to reach them.
I for once disagree and believe that facebook causes more harm than good to
users.
One
argument Doyle gives, which stood out the most to me was the one related to
Myers’ “Happy people are hope-filled” idea. In fact, Ron Doyle claims that “technology
pushes far beyond what was once believed possible, it breaks apart the
boundaries of our own imaginations and encourages each of us to think up new
approaches to our own dilemmas. Social media increases one's ability to reach
out to individuals of influence and power.” This may have some truth to it.
What Doyle neglects however is the effect these powerful people have on passive
facebook users. This effect is the result of a social phenomenon known as
social comparison. In some cases, the social network allows us to observe our
similar peers (by similar I mean like-minded, same socio-economic status) which
makes the hit even harder. Through that learning process, passive facebook
users can potentially grow to resent facebook and resent the image of
themselves they expect to accomplish and preserve. Powerful and outgoing users
plague passive facebook users with envy. We joined facebook looking to achieve
happiness, only to end up making this pleasure a curse
Now, I
could in fact agree with a solid point given by Doyle. The author of the text
gives an argument related to Myers’ “Happy people are outgoing” happiness
secret. Doyle states :
Because people feel closer
to others, social media becomes a safe environment for practicing extroverted social behaviors—it's a lot
easier to "type into a site full of strangers" than it is to walk
into a room full of them. "Going through the motions can trigger the
emotions," says Myers, "such is the value of social occasions—they
impel us to behave as if we were happy, which in fact helps free us from our
unhappiness."
I believe Doyle gave a very
solid point. I can’t help but agree when I think of the difficulties of facing
a large crowd of people. It’s never easy to persuade people let alone make them
listen. Self-expression is not an issue. Feedback however is. Nobody would want
to see negative feedback from a large group of people, up close and personal.
Facebook drops the awkwardness and uneasiness of most social situations. That’s
why typing into a site full of strangers is easier than walking into a room
full of them. What I find rather irritating is that most people believe that
shy individuals don’t know how to express themselves. I firmly disagree.
Everybody knows how to express themselves. What makes some people more shy than
others is their past experiences with negative feedback. I believe that is why
some people engage in social activity through facebook’s virtual barrier.
