Facebook and Loneliness Essay

With over 955 million active Facebook users worldwide, Facebook has definitely taken over the internet, and many people’s lives. With a simple click of a button many people can communicate with each other in the blink of an eye. Being able to add however many friends one may want, or talk to how ever many people one may want would make someone assume many people are less lonely today than they were 100 years ago. However, that is not the case. In recent years, the number of chronically lonely people worldwide has gone up significantly. Why one may ask? Research has shown a direct connection to loneliness and the frequent use of Facebook. Facebook, like many other social media sites gives individuals a way to communicate with friends, family, and other individuals through the internet. Throughout the years Facebook has become a worldwide phenomenon that people have become quite obsessed with. One would think that since Facebook makes communication quicker, and easier for many people that it would make people less lonely. However, it is doing the opposite. Today, lonely people use Facebook as an outlet to run to while other things in their lives aren’t going as planned. Loneliness lies deep inside someone, and cannot be cured by â€Å"fake† communicating with an individual over Facebook. While individuals flee to Facebook to try to alleviate the pain of being lonely, it only leaves them less happy. The more these people try to be happy, the less happy they will be. It was shown that the more narcissistic one is, the more likely they are to be using Facebook. These types of people have an inflated sense of their own importance of oneself. Facebook is a perfect outlet for them to create this great self-image for oneself, while forgetting about all other aspects of life. Facebook also intrigues lonely people as a way to feel more connected to other individuals, however these other individuals over Facebook are like a dog, or a book, they are not real things to become completely intimate with. This leaves people with a sense of loneliness in the long run. Personally, I was shocked to see the statistics about how Facebook is making individuals lonelier then not. This is because I definitely thought Facebook  was bringing people less loneliness then anything by offering the service to talk to people whenever one desires. However, after reading the article I completely understand how to opposite trend is now taking place. Facebook is a perfect outlet for lonely people to run to, and it does nothing but hurt them. Though it is not Facebook alone that is making people lonely worldwide, Facebook is definitely contributing to the increasing number yearly. Since Facebook started offering one-click communication methods and the ability to talk to anyone, at any time people have become less engaged in real life and more engaged in cyber-life. Individuals struggling with family or other relationships run to their fantasy world on the internet while leaving more important issues behind them for a quick second. In a world with so much technology, and advancements in communication one would think that this would make us less lonely, but we can all see now that this is not the case.