Introduction: Social media consists of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, basically anything where people can share a part of their mind or life. It can also be considered a place of creativity, freedom of expression and for some it could be considered a place of escape. Thesis Statement: Social media does not make us antisocial because it is always up to us as individuals how we handle what we see online. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Topic Sentence: Allison Graham focused her speech on how social media makes us antisocial. Evidence and Quotes: He started by showing a clip of people and how they use their platforms, share their thoughts and personal lives through the use of social media. Comment: It was an obvious indication that social media was alienating people without them realizing it and was using it recklessly. Evidence and Citations: Furthermore, the result of a 2001 survey states that an average American has ten really close friends and currently only has at least two friends (Graham, 2014). Graham also shared his real-life observations about people using their phones even though they should be concerned about the person they're with, including family members and couples. That said, texting and driving are more likely to be the cause of teen deaths. other than driving while intoxicated. Adults are always busy with work, they forget to communicate with their children, so in return children focus more on their phones because they have something that could keep them busy too and social media provides them the attention they think they need need. Social media has become a place where you can gain self-esteem through likes. Evidence and Quotes: We touch our phone one hundred and fifty times a day, and people around the world upload 1.8 billion photos to Facebook every day (Graham, 2014). Comment: We are constantly divided by technology and the more it divides us, the more we demand from it. Evidence and Quotes: One of the effects of social media is that we lose the potential to express ourselves because we are so used to using abbreviations like OMG and LOL (Graham, 2014). Comment: Freedom of expression is limited to such terms and in reality the use of our mind to construct a constructive response is limited. In contrast to Allison Graham's speech, Dr. Tracy Packiam Alloway spoke about the positive effects of social media and how it makes us sociable. Evidence and Quotes: Dr. Alloway also shared one of her experiences while on vacation with her family, posted a photo with a broken leg, and received positive feedback and loving messages from strangers. Comment: He then had a hypothesis that social media encourages empathy. Evidence and Citations: Dr. Alloway has conducted research and studies on the behavior of people using social media and it all started with a photo she posted. His research findings included that people using social media personally are more emphatic, and social media use could help improve working memory, information processing, and help people prioritize what is important and to ignore what is not. According to one of the Dr. Alloway studies that monitor the update of our friends actually help improve our cognitive abilities. Comment: The use of social media has also helped us develop our concentration skills and you called it the "bright brain" that allowspeople process information quickly and strengthens their long-term memory. It is evident that many people are influenced by social media in a negative way, such that they are becoming distant and reckless in the way they use it. Evidence and Quotes: Before using a platform, people should always think before clicking because once a status update or image is available, it will stay there forever. According to Graham, Americans are significantly fewer close friends in today's world, but let's not forget that as the world changes, so do the people. Social media isn't the only reason why people have less important friends, some may just prefer it that way or most have realized that not everyone you talk to is considered your friend. Social media definitely opens people's eyes to see who their real friends are. Graham also talked about families and couples using the phone even if they are physically together. Evidence and Quotes: This is an indication that the family does not have good communication and that there is an underlying communication problem within the family that needs to be resolved. Parents shouldn't just sit at a table with their kids and let them use their phones throughout the day. Evidence and Quotes: As for couples using the phone while on a date, this could potentially mean that the date is getting awkward or that the other person doesn't like the person they're physically with more than the person on the other end of the screen which is a show of disrespect or an indication that they shouldn't be together in the first place. It was also mentioned in Graham's speech that social media is limiting our freedom of expression, but I would not want to limit our freedom of expression only with abbreviations. Freedom of expression is much more than just shorthand. Evidence and Quotations: Social media could be an outlet for people's creativity and freedom of expression In platforms like Twitter, users of this platform never fail to express their opinions regarding social issues. Social media is an avenue for people to be more educated and aware of what is happening to their surroundings. Therefore, it does not limit their freedom of expression. There are studies by Dr. Alloway that show that social media can be beneficial to us humans, if used correctly. Evidence and Citations: Social media can digest information more effectively by separating what is important and what is not. It also taught us how to do multiple things at once, people in the past had brains that could only focus on one thing at a time and now people could do more than just one thing. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Concluding Paragraph: Social media doesn't make us antisocial, we make ourselves less social. Parents have chosen to give their children phones to replace their lack of presence in their children's lives. Couples text each other in front of each other to avoid awkward interactions with each other or they are simply fed up with each other. Teenagers involved in car accidents choose to respond to an irrelevant message rather than think about their own safety. We can't always blame social media for the negative things that happen in our lives because we chose to be in this position to begin with. Being antisocial is a choice for which no one should be blamed but ourselves. References Forest,,.