Social Media Normalization

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The rise of the digital age has steadily grown, influencing most people’s lives on a day-to-day basis. This influence and the various effects social media has on today’s society is described in Nathan Jurgenson’s article, “The IRL Fetish”. The so-called “fetishization” of the “real” world is argued to be relevant due to a false sense of separation between the online and offline world. The normalization of using technology so often is what led to the belief that being connected online means being disconnected from our actual lives. Naturally, there are people that look down upon certain aspects of today’s modern world; social media has become an important part in many people’s lives and on the outside it does appear to take away from the real …show more content…

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and other social networking sites have transformed the way we interact with one another. As Jurgenson stated in his article, “we aren’t friends until we are Facebook friends” (130). Social media is a tool which enables us to dive deeper into individuals’ lives. By becoming connected on social media, it is easy to feel as though you know a person better; knowing who they are friends with, what they like/dislike, and random facts make it possible and practically effortless to get to know someone without actually interacting with them. Newer generations, like millennials and the currently growing generation z, consistently use technology as a way to stay up to date with friends or acquaintances, even if it is not face to face or text to text. The way a person presents themselves online is seen as a reflection of their true selves; whether it be false or not, we can learn about a person’s entire life solely based off of their digital accounts. If someone had no form of social media or online interaction, it would be almost impossible to stay in the loop of everyone around them, thus technology has become something expected of

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