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welcome to spotlight I'm Robin Basilan
and I'm Ryan Getzlaf spotlight uses a
special English method of broadcasting
it is easier for people to understand no
matter where in the world they live
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every day more than 1 billion people
connect with each other using social
media people post pictures on websites
like Facebook they like and share videos
that they have watched on YouTube and
they send messages to friends using
programs like QQ messenger in just the
last 10 years social media has
completely changed the way we
communicate and it has let us
communicate with people around the world
but how does using social media affect
us scientists from many different
countries have studied this question
they have looked particularly at its
effects on human emotion and
relationships some studies show that
using social media can cause depression
and other studies suggest that it can
negatively affect our relationships
today's spotlight is on the positive and
negative effects of social media the
main positive effect of social media is
also its purpose connection modern life
can be very busy many people work long
hours other people live far away from
family and friends in different cities
or countries today many things separate
people and it can be difficult to stay
connected with the people that are
important to us
Zainab to fetch a is a scientist who
studies social media and human behavior
in the Atlantic magazine she wrote
social medias very fast rise is allowed
and growing attempt by people everywhere
to connect with each other they are
connecting even with all the barriers
that the modern world forces on our
lives social media can also help people
make new friends often these are friends
they would not have met without social
media for example imagine you have a
very particular interest you love the
science of soild usually you would not
meet very many people who are also
interested in soil but through social
media you can find people
all over the world who share your
interest in soil science social media
can also help people spread news about
major world events this lets people all
over the world react more quickly and
even help for example in January of 2010
the small country of Haiti experienced a
major earthquake more than 100,000
people died millions more people needed
food and shelter soon after the
earthquake the International Red Cross
started an appeal for aid using social
media very quickly they raised many
millions of dollars to help the
earthquake victims Wendi Hartmann the
Red Cross social media manager told
Mashable the result was huge I am sure
that it would not have spread so widely
without social media it is clear that
social media has many positive effects
but some scientists warn that social
media can also harm people the Public
Library of Science published a major
study in 2013 this study looked at
people from the United States who used
the social media website Facebook the
study found that the more these
individuals used Facebook
the less they were satisfied with their
life and scientists observed that this
could cause feelings of depression
another major study in Germany found
similar results scientists studied how
600 German Facebook users felt while
they used Facebook they found that the
most common emotion people experienced
while using Facebook was Envy so why
would using Facebook cause depression
and envy well often when people put
things on social media they only post
the best things about their lives they
talk about the fun things they are doing
or they post pictures that make them
look particularly good so when people
look at Facebook they are only seeing
the best things in their friends lives
this can make them feel less satisfied
about their own lives and they can begin
to feel envy because their friends lives
look so perfect researchers also noted
that Facebook relationships are
different than normal relationships
when someone sees a friend regularly
they see both the good and bad in that
person's life but if someone only sees a
friend on social media they will
probably only see part of their friend's
life
this makes social media relationships
very different than normal relationships
sherry Turkle is a technology expert
that teaches at MIT in the United States
Terkel claims that social media is
decreasing the quality of our
relationships when people use social
media they do not talk deeply or for
very long and being someone's facebook
friend demands very little effort
Terkel wrote about social media
relationships in the New York Times
she said we expect more from technology
and less from one another more and more
we desire technologies that provide a
false idea of relationship without the
demands of relationship many people have
begun to notice the negative effects of
social media themselves Ashlee elder is
a young woman from the United States in
2011 she began to notice that Facebook
was affecting her relationships she told
the New York Times
I was not calling my friends anymore I
was just seeing their pictures and
comments on Facebook and I felt like
that was really connecting to them but
Elder began to recognize that she was
not truly connecting with her friends so
she decided to stop using Facebook she
knew she would miss some things but she
felt that stopping Facebook would
improve her relationships with her
closest friends Sam Laird is a writer
for the internet company Mashable like
elder he also decided to stop using
Facebook for him it was an experiment he
wanted to see what would happen after
five months he found that he
concentrated more on his life and
relationships however he also found that
he missed shared memories and fun events
on Facebook Laird enjoyed being off
Facebook but he said he would probably
return to Facebook one day he wrote my
experiment has shown me that social
media has become a part of human life
you can use it or not use it as much as
you like but it is not going anywhere
Laird is probably right social media is
not going anywhere
but we may need to think more carefully
about how we use it and how it makes us
feel so how do you feel when you use
social media do you think it improves or
hurts your relationships would you ever
consider stopping using social media
tell us what you think you can leave
your comments on our website or email us
at radio at Radio English dotnet the
writer of this program was Jen Hawkins
the producer was Mark Trent
the voices you heard were from the
United States all quotes were adapted
and voiced by spotlight you can listen
to this program again and read it on the
internet at www.pedestrians.org
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