Social Media Influence People’s lives Positively and Negatively

Social media influence people’s lives positively and negatively, however, personal views influence the judgments of authors

Keen in “Sharing is a Trap” and Jarvis in “Get Over It” presents contradictory views on technological advancements and social media. Keep identifies social networking as a threat to human privacy and private life. He argues that living without privacy is living without a fundamental part of being humans. Jarvis provides supporting arguments for the positive role of social media and technology. He claims that surviving without technology is not possible and it is also part of human evolution.

Andrew Keen in his article “Sharing is a Trap” portrays the importance of privacy in people’s life. He criticizes the role of social media as it constantly threatens the privacy of humans. The author believes that living without privacy is sacrificing a fundamental part of humanity. The emphasis of the author is on independence and freedom. Keen argues that personal sharing life and personal things deprive people of privacy. The things that people do on the internet remains open for others. The author argues that social networking changed the idea of private life as everyone’s life on social websites like Facebook and Twitter is public (Keen).

Jeff Jarvis in his article “Get Over It” displays the positive side of social media. The author argues that pooling data does not threaten privacy, in fact, it is part of human evolution. The emphasis of Jarvis is more on highlighting the advantages of technological advancements. He believes that surviving without technology and evolution is impossible. The author displays concerns about the privacy as it eliminates the opportunities to connect with others. He identifies the issues as privacy crisis that minimizes the benefits. Social media has benefits as it connects people, permit them sharing information and making friends. He recognizes the life-saving role of social media and technology (Jarvis).

Keen uncovers the issues related to privacy in his article. The diminishing concept of private and domestic life remains the central issues in Keen’s article. He also argues the concept of perfection illustrated by Bentham. Using string claims strengthens his argument, “in Bentham’s perfectly efficient and transparent world, there would be nowhere for anyone to hide” (Keen). Elimination of privacy influenced every aspect of human life and built relevance with Foucault’s claim “visibility is a trap.” Another issue highlighted in the article includes the disconnection from reality. Social media allowed people to build their secondary lives that are unrealistic and imaginative.

Jarvis identifies the issues of extensive privacy setups and their impact on human lives. Limiting the power of sharing negatively impacts the knowledge as people have fewer opportunities for gaining information. Privacy discourages openness and supports censorship and overregulation. Privacy threatens benefits associated with technology, “we collaborate through openness. We are learning how to use our new tools to organize movements” (Jarvis). To support his argument he uses his personal experience of surgery as technology allowed him to convince other people for getting checkups.

The two authors disagree on the uses and misuses of technology. Keep recognizes the potential risks associated with social media while Jarvis identifies the positive aspects significant for human growth. Keen emphasize on enhancing privacy and limiting the concept of sharing. Jarvis disagrees with Keen’s views and reveals the adverse impacts of privacy (Lake). Both authors provide claims to support their arguments but fail to address some issues. Keen throughout his article discourages the use of technology and emphasize on privacy but he fails to consider the concept of development associated with social media. Jarvis fails to address concepts of protection as people without privacy are open to everyone.

Work cited

JARVIS, JEFF. Get over it. 2011. 25 Feb 2018 <http://www.wired.co.uk/article/get-over-it>.

KEEN, ANDREW. Sharing is a trap. 2011. 25 Feb 2018 <http://www.wired.co.uk/article/sharing-is-a-trap>.

LAKE, LAURA. Understanding the Role of Social Media in Marketing. 2017. 25 Feb 2018 <https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-the-role-of-social-media-in-marketing-2296140>