Social Isolation and Its Impact on Modern Society

In the modern society, a large number of people are suffering from the effects of social isolation. Over the past decades, the most affected population has been the senior citizens who are forced to live in isolation due to their old age and a loss of contact with their friends. The results of alienation are loneliness, vulnerability, and depression. However, with the emergence of information technology, both the senior population and the younger generations have been faced with increased exposure to loneliness as people have greater access and use of different media as opposed to the traditional methods of socialization (Solove 17). Loneliness can be defined as a distressful mental state in which a person develops the feeling of being cut

The use of different social media platforms creates the illusion of human adaptation while in fact it has far reaching effects such as addiction (Bargh 582). The use of social media over an extended period may become addictive making people lose the sense of physical interaction thereby affecting their connection with their close ones and themselves. As indicated by Shapin (211), individuals in the older societies isolated themselves to find time to contemplate and grow while in the modern society, isolation may be as a result of self-love and the imaginary benefits people attach to online socialization. Psychology Today clearly indicates that the human nature has a characteristic of always seeking to be in a supportive structure in everyday life. Even though social media may have some effects on social change in an individual, it does not always lead to meaningful relationships (Engelberg 2). Social media’s virtual integration and lack of significant relations is a clear indicator of a deep underlying sense of

The face-to-face communication mechanism is the only method to overcome the adverse effects associated with the virtual connection. This is because online communication quality cannot match that of the real-world physical get-together. Online communications also lack the traditional use of body signals. As illustrated in the Relationship Australia survey, most of the people spend most of their time in computers and other internet connected gadgets while communicating with other people at the expense of creating social networks which in turn harms relationships and leads to loneliness (Relationships Australia 2015). It is, therefore, important to monitor how a person uses the technological platforms and how much time they spend on them since the individual may develop addictive behaviors by spending more time online and not having the time to build real