'Is Social Media Disconnecting Us From The Big Picture'

Macie Hicks Social media has undeniably impacted the 21st century immensely, but the debate that decides whether this impact is beneficial or undermining, still continues today. For example, Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, claims “We’ve gone from a world of isolated communities to one global community, and we are all better off for it.”, while Jenna Wortham, the author of Is Social Media Disconnecting Us From the Big Picture, provided the other side of the debate when she stated “Social media is my portal into the rest of the world - my periscope into the communities next to my community, into how the rest of the world thinks and feels. And it completely failed me.” In accordance with Wortham, I have come to conclude that social media had promising intentions of unifying different communities, but failed to successfully fulfill its purpose due to human’s inability to welcome and consider new ideas.

For instance, Wortham reacts to Eli Pariser’s theory that claims online personalization distorts the type of information users see, with the statement “Even so, I still chose to let algorithms shape how I perceive the world. Everything I could want to see is available at my fingertips, and yet I didn’t look.” As Pariser’s theory states, communication consisting of the exchange of different views and opinions between communities has indeed been limited. Today, every social media app contains the ability to “block” other users, mute undesired notifications, and hide specific aspects of information. These actions not only emphasize isolation that was supposed to be broken, but allow users to remain close-minded and pervert the concept of communication once