"Negative Effects of Social Media" Argumentitive Essay

Technology plays a huge part in our society, allowing people of all ages to gather various news sources across the web, communicate with friends all over the world, and learn something new. Social media is a large part of this technology allowing you to do all of the above and more, what could possibly be wrong with social media? Social media sites like facebook and instagram were originally designed to be ways to connect, ways to see new things you would never think to look for, and hobbies you never knew you would be interested in, but it has become a harmful addiction. Kids being on their phones for hours on end and comparing the likes on their newest post to their friends posts and small meaningless online squabbles resulting in kids having lowered self esteem. Social media has created an immense negative effect on not just the kids of the world, but people of all ages due to the engrossing feedback you can get online and the addiction created from it.

Social media can create many instances of bullying or “drama” for the people using it. There are some people who think that drama is nowhere close to what real life bullying is, but they are wrong. Text two states, “‘Drama is a word that teens use to encompass a lot of different behaviors,’ Marwick says. ‘Some of these behaviors might be what adults call bullying. But others are pranks, jokes, entertainment.’ Bullying, she notes, takes place over a long time and involves one teen exerting power over another” (Text 2). Drama is essentially bullying, it's called drama due to the bullying being able to be viewed by anyone online, like a show. Not all drama may be bad due to some just being simple jokes and pranks, but the fact that there is no discrimination between comical jokes and bullying is the issue. Text two also states, “Calling these behaviors drama ‘is a way for teens to avoid the language of bullying,’ she notes. ‘Bullying creates victims and perpetrators. Teens don't want to be seen as either. Using the term ’drama’ removes these roles. It ‘allows them to save face even when drama is hurtful,’marwick says” (Text 2). Bullying is referred to as drama due to the negative perception of bullying held by many teens and adults. Bullying creates bad guys, and teens don't want to be seen as the bad guy so any bullying is referred to as drama allowing everyone's conscience to be put at ease. Drama creates unhealthy relationships online and in real life, making bullying socially acceptable and brushed off as nothing, due to it simply being seen as “drama”, showing the negative effects of social media. The putrid results of this “drama” can lead to mental health struggles such as depression becoming common amongst teenagers.

Social media can create symptoms of depression and other mental health problems for the people using it. There are some people who think that social media is just online and can have no mental harm on yourself in real life, but they are wrong. Text two states, “...unpopular teens get less feedback in their posts… …these people are more likely to post about unhappy events (such as having a phone stolen) than happy ones. Together, these factors can lead to low self-esteem and symptoms of depression” (Text 2). When you are already a less popular person, you are guaranteed to get less likes than if you were popular, this is guaranteed. Teens don't see it like this and instead view it as a way of saying that they are worth less than the popular person, often resulting in mental health issues such as depression. Text two also states, “...teens present idealized versions of themselves online… …this filtered view of their lives makes others believe all is well --- even when it's not… those carefully crafted profiles can make it feel like everyone else is living a better life than you are” (Text 2). Every teen wants everyone else to believe that their life is great and they have no setbacks even when it may be the opposite. Teens only do this because their friends do this, and their friends do this because their friends do this, creating a pattern. When you look towards your friends and only see a highlight reel of their life, and you compare that to your own life, you can feel isolated and alone when in reality your friend may have the same hardships as you. This polarization between what we think other people's lives really are and our own lifes, has created symptoms of depression and other mental health issues amongst many teens and even adults using social media. This creates conflict in the real world due to many average teens becoming depressed, affecting their schooling, hobbies, and personal lives, displaying the negative effects of social media. Depression can also be spread through the dispersion of fake news.

Social media can easily spread fake news amongst its users, causing people to believe them and the conspiracies they spread. Some people say that no one falls for fake news and that people can distinguish between real and fake news, but they are wrong. Text 1 states, “Technology companies are creating addictions at a global scale, profiting off the distribution of fake news and other things that you will never hear about because they have billion-dollar PR teams to cover it up” (Text 1). Big tech companies spend billions of dollars every year to cover up their malpractice and the fact that they 9are practically engineering addiction. These companies have so much money that they can buy your time and beliefs. In text 4, the co-inventor of Google-Drive, Gmail-Chat, Facebook Pages, and the Facebook like button states, “Algorithms and manipulative politicians are becoming so expert at learning how to trigger us, getting so good at creating fake news that we absorb as if it were reality and confusing us into believing those lies. It's as if we have less and less control over who we are and what we really believe“ (Text 4). These big tech companies allow politicians and various other people to influence certain groups of people on their platform in order for them to get the public to align with their views. They profit off the fake news distributed by getting the people to vote the way they want or buy a certain product they sell, as the people continue to lose any sense of their own uninfluenced opinion. When people truly start to believe this false news, it won't be social media spreading it, they themselves will spread it allowing these powerful individuals and big tech companies that control social media to truly buy our freedom, with us being none the wiser. Proving the multitude of negative effects associated with social media.

The opposing claim argues that social media allows you to make more friends. Text 3 states, “It's entirely possible to have hundreds or even thousands of friends on facebook. They may not be friends you spend time with in the real world, but they are friends nonetheless.” Although it may be true that you can have more “friends” it may not necessarily be a positive. Text 2 states, “Some users may be able to easily share a post you make, spreading it beyond your control. And teens (and adults) who connect with people from different areas of their lives might run into awkward moments - like when a friend leaves a joking comment on your post that your grandma does not find funny at all” (Text 2, Para 18, Line 2-5). This displays the ramifications of having many online “friends”, any post you make can be spread all over the internet without you even knowing due to people you don't know in real life sharing it. Also it can be spread to someone you do know, like a funny post you only sent to your friend making its way to your mom who scolded you for liking that post. All of these “friends” create lots of liabilities for you and your personal privacy. This invasion of privacy further proves the point that there are more negative effects associated with social media than there are positives.

As time goes on we will continue to adapt, as we have throughout the history of humanity. Our only hope is that we can tame this dangerous beast of social media and technology to better our own lives instead of only bettering the big tech companies businesses and pockets. Social media has created an immense negative effect on not just the kids of the world, but people of all ages due to the widely accepted instances of bullying found within it, the symptoms of depression and mental illness developed by its users, the spreading of fake news, and the invasion of privacy created by having many online friends. This matters in our world because it affects us to this very day. Every day we come across fake news, whether we believe it or not, it's still there waiting for us to fall for it. Also, our worlds teenagers are also committing suicide at an increased rate every year as a result of social media. Our solution we must develop to stop this epidemic is strict regulation on social media and the ways that the sites are run, so that these big companies can stop pushing us to form their ideals and help the future generation not base their entire lives around the number of likes they have.

"Masque of the Red Death" Literary Analysis Essay

Some may think that if we can be successful or have a lot of money we can avoid or prolong death. But in the end, rich or poor death is inevitable. In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe, the central idea is that death is inevitable. This is shown through the use of symbolism. First the author uses symbolism to show you can't escape death.

The central idea “Death is inevitable” is established throughout the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe through the use of symbolism. First it states, “This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and messy hammers and welded bolts.” (Poe 2) This symbolizes the locked iron gate as there being no escape from death. The gate is locked meaning no one can leave the abbey, similar to how there is no back door out of death. How death is inevitable. We then see more symbolism when the author states, “...a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis on that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to the hearken to the sound; and thus the watzers performance ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconnect of the whole gay company… ...But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly.” (Poe 5) Here we can again see the central idea that death is inevitable as the author symbolizes the ebony clock as a continuous reminder of death. No one at the ball could not stop the pendulum from swinging, causing everyone to freeze, just as no one can stop years ticking away from our lives, causing us to grow closer to death. Symbolism helps to develop the central idea by showing just how no one can escape through a locked iron gate or stop time from passing, nobody can escape the inevitability of death.

The central idea “Death is inevitable” is established throughout the story with the use of symbolism. The author states, “...while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls , he (the Red Death) made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple - through the purple to the green - from the green to the orange -through this again to the white - and even thence to the violet… ...Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revelers at once threw themselves into the black apartment.” (Poe 14) This symbolizes the multicolored roms as different stages of life. The rooms start with blue representing birth and end with a red and black room, representing death. As the partyers and the prince retreat from the Red Death through the rooms, they are going through the different stages of life and at the end have only one room they can escape to, death. This symbolizes how in the end, death is inevitable. We see even more symbolism when the author states, “And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his (Prince Prospero’s) fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And the Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” (Poe 15) Here we can once again see the central idea that death is inevitable as the author symbolizes the Red Death as death itself. The Red Death was unexpected and “came like a thief in the night”, just like how you can never expect death to occur until it does. The quote also states, “the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all”, just like how in the end death conquers all, further proving the claim that “death is inevitable”. Symbolism helps to develop the central idea by showing how death has ultimate control of all.

Overall, the people of the ball thought that they were above death and that nothing bad could ever happen to them, but the Red Death was able to enter into the ball and kill all of them. This is a great example of how for people of all statuses, death is inevitable. In “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allen Poe uses symbolism throughout the short story to exhibit the central idea that death is inevitable. He leaves the reader wondering why everyone has to die. Which causes us to think, is death truly inevitable?