Social Media
A large percentage of the world’s population owns a smartphone and uses social media. Social media can bring us together, but it also has its drawbacks. Relationships can benefit or suffer as a result of social media. Many studies have been conducted to see if social media can be beneficial or harmful to relationships. In this paper, we will concentrate on fully comprehending both sides of the debate and assessing their merits. To provide comprehensive information on this subject, I will present and evaluate each person’s reasoning, followed by a discussion of the value of various types of sources in terms of the degree of support they provide for their conclusions.
Presentation Of An Argument That Social Media Harms Relationships
Spencer Palmer conducts research on social media use and its impact on relationships and emotions (Christensen 2018). A total of 627 people took part in the survey, which consisted of short answers to questions about social media use, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being. This and other studies show that the more time people spend on social media, the more likely they are to have problems in their relationships. The following are some of the arguments presented:
Premise 1: Social media creates unrealistic expectations. Social posts on the relationship may make some people feel that their partners are not doing their best for them. For instance, some individuals may want their friends to be like celebrities and people of high class when they do not belong to those social classes (Christensen 2018).
Premise 2: Jealousy can arise as a result of social media (Taylor & Bazarova 2021). People may become annoyed when they see their partner liking or commenting on other people’s posts, and in the worst-case scenario, they may believe they are being cheated on.
Premise 3: social media makes everyday life seem less interesting.
Premise 4: social media can cause you to miss out on quality time with your partner and friends (Christensen 2018). People nowadays are more attached to their phones, and in some cases, a group of friends will stay in a house with everyone glued to their phones, resulting in the value of an internet connection over a real-time connection.
Premise 5: social media can lead to mental health. The pressure from social media can lead to low self-esteem, and even in times when an individual does not have access to the internet, they may feel lonely.
Premise 6: Conflicts can arise as a result of disagreements or hurt feelings on social media. Couples may disagree about what to post and what not to post on social media. Or sharing something on social media that your partner didn’t want shared, and vice versa. These actions may cause a rift in the relationship, as well as hurt feelings.
Conclusion: Relationships can be harmed by social media.
Evaluation That Social Media Harms Relationships
This article’s logic is compelling. Because it summarizes the research findings, the conclusion is linked to the premises. Furthermore, the premises are well supported because they have occurred in our relationships and even among our close friends (Du et al., 2021). People who are new on social media might spend all day forgetting to talk to their beloved ones and end up losing them, which makes them to undergo some heart aches and depression.
Presentation On the Argument That Social Media Benefits Relationships
Although social media can have a harmful impact on a relationship, it can also have a helpful impact. According to research, a partner’s public expression of affection and mutual information sharing can have a positive impact. It provides partners with peace of mind by allowing them to know what their partner is up to.
Some of these arguments are presented in the premises are as follows:
Premise 1: social media helps people build new relationships. In this digital age, people are establishing healthy relationships on social media by belonging to groups with common needs and specialization (Du et al., 2021). Also, in dating apps, single people meet each other.
Premise 2: social media can keep partners connected through sending pictures, memes, and video calls which strengthen relationships (Taylor & Bazarova 2021). Social media also helps people in long-distance relationships to connect.
Premise 3: People can learn about relationships from experts in social media. Many accounts offer good information on developing and maintaining healthy relationships (Du et al., 2021). These platforms, if used appropriately, can help in building relationships.
Premise 4: social media help in keeping memories. Social media has replaced the traditional method of keeping printed photographs albums by acting as a place to store memories.
Conclusion: relationships can be strengthened by social media as long as people learn to access and use the right information on social media.
Evaluation Of the Argument That Social Media Can Benefit Relationships
Because the premises adequately support that social media can benefit relationships, the reasoning presented appears to be quite strong. Various studies have found that using social media in a relationship is completely acceptable. Individuals learn how to deal with problems and differences by hearing from others who are dealing with similar or closely related issues. And even helping partners who are not living with each other relate in a good way and even feel the presence of their partners through photos, skype, video calls, and voice notes.
Evaluation Of Arguments in Non-Scholarly and Scholarly Sources
Because they analyzed data from various scientific studies, these scholarly sources provide a substantial amount of evidence for their conclusions. Non-scholarly sources do not provide traceable information; instead, they provide information that is biased in favor of one side, making it difficult to draw conclusions from them. Scholarly sources are known to provide true information because the researchers are motivated to determine the actual reasons as to why things areas. And they are aimed at obtaining information specifically from the group of people facing that problem. Scholarly sources that are related to this topic have shown similarities in how they view the effect of social media on relationships, while non-scholarly sources are trying to make their conclusion on one side.
Conclusion
Studying the reasoning on each side of this topic has been interesting because I have known both sides of social media’s impacts on relationships. However, there is still debate between the two sources. I would choose to do further research using scholarly sources to understand the topic from a deeper view. This will help me decide on how to use social media to build relationships as I avoid harms associated with social media use in relationships.
References
Taylor, S. H., Zhao, P., & Bazarova, N. N. (2021). Social media and close relationships: a puzzle of connection and disconnection. Current opinion in psychology. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X2100244X
Du, J., Kerkhof, P., & van Koningsbruggen, G. M. (2021). The reciprocal relationships between social media self-control failure, mindfulness and wellbeing: A longitudinal study. PloS one, 16(8), e0255648. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255648
Christensen, S. P. (2018). Social media use and its impact on relationships and emotions. Brigham Young University. https://search.proquest.com/openview/cb7d5ac2cd818724237760ce7e0a9ce2/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y