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Annotated Bibliography

Is Technology Detaching Us From One Another?

Spencer Blackwell
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
03/12/2015

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Annotated Bibliography

Barcelona, Robert, Brent Beggs, Jason Bocarro, Kelly Bricker, Nathan Bricker, Cynthia
Carruthers, Lee DeLisle, Virginia Dilworth, Minsun Doh, Daniel Dustin, Dovie Gamble,
Joey Gray, Karla Henderson, Colleen Hood, Joy James, Michael Kanters, Linda Levine,
Nancy Nisbett, Erik Rabinowitz, Ariel Rodriguez, and Paul Schlag. Dimensions of
Leisure for Life: Individuals and Society. Human Kinetics, 2010. Print.
This information is an excerpt from the textbooks Dimension of Leisure: Individuals &
Society which is authored by various persons with their Ph.Ds. This is a more
professional-formal writing. Both of these facts make the information presented very
useful and reliable. The section first focuses on virtual communities, social networking
sites, and todays communication tools, then it critically reflects on gaming and television
and the social development that comes as a result of using these forms of technology. The
resulting action is getting the reader to think about how each technology affects their
social life and social skills. A study revealed that students aged 18-19 use social media
the most, then students aged 20-24 had the next highest percentage, and the percentages
continuously decreased with the next intervals of ages.
Two sides of this argument are discussed in this text, making it good research
information. The author explains how social media can bring intimacy to a relationship.
You may have friends or family members that live a distance away and you arent able to
see them, so you can keep up with them on these sites. It may not always be possible to
have quality one-on-one time with loved ones. On the other hand, some people have been
caught cheating on their significant others leading to divorce and the ending of
relationships. Employees have been fired because of posting things that were not up to a

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professional standard. These are negative effects that social media has on social
interaction. I will use this as a primary source of information due to the professional
research and background of the authors of this text.

Housman, Donna "The Antisocial Effects of Social Media." New York Times 26 Apr. 2012:
A22(L). Science in Context. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
In her response to the Editor, Donna Housman talks about the antisocial effects social
media has. She says that although the websites allow us to communicate, they take away
from the personal, one-on-one, face-to-face intimacy that we are use to having. It takes
away from us having real connections with people. We lack communication and
conversation which can lead to psychological issues, especially children. She says that
these emotional connections give us feedback toward a heightened self and social
awareness, promoting thinking, reflecting and an understanding of what is going on
within and between us. These are essential skills all lacking in social media
communication. We as young people have the social, personal, and academic parts of
life mastered, but now we need to have the emotional part that comes with intimacy with
one another. I did not think about this point of view on this issue. This article did not
have a lot of information, but what was presented is enough to use to build a foundation
to support my claim.

Kenechi "Is Social Media Degrading Human Interaction?" Youtube. 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Mar.
2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAghMjkmjFQ>.
This video opened my eyes to a new aspect of this topic. In this video, Kenechi, talks
about how we can have a level of human intimacy and interaction via social media by

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either being public or private. He says his friend told him to look at a certain TV show
and after watching it, he enjoyed it. Instead of texting his friend, or sending him a private
message on Facebook, Kenechi wrote on his friends Facebook wall. He explains how
many people have gotten into trouble by saying things that theyve normally would have
said, but instead of saying it privately to a person they posted it publicly. Its doing the
same thing you would normally do, but now with a new audience. He believes that this
will become a norm. I believe this is a good source because he is a young person who
uses social media and has noticed the changes it has had even on his life over time. I can
use his information as backup data to support my claim.

Nilles, Melissa. "Technology Is Destroying the Quality of Human Interaction." The Bottom
Line 24 Jan. 2012, Arts & Entertainment sec. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
<https://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2012/01/technology-is-destroying-the-quality-ofhuman-interaction>.
This piece of information comes of out a section of the student-run newspaper of the
University of California Santa Barbara. This newspaper blog post hits the nail of my
topic exactly on the head. The author of this article talks about how the excessive use of
technology has taken away from the intimacy and overall interaction that people have
towards each other. People no longer spend quality time with family, friends, and other
loved ones, but instead we send a text, give a call, or write a message to them on
Facebook. The author gives information about how out of the thousands of friends that
one might have on Facebook, scholarly research suggests that a person can only have a
personal connection with only 100-200 people. Her overall message is getting people to

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do less interacting via social media, and interact more in the physical presence of one
another.
What makes this article helpful is the author gives personal testimony in the introduction.
The reader can then relate to what the author is speaking about and begin to set the mind
on the topic at hand. Since this is a college newspaper, the author is more than likely
writing to college aged students. We are the ones who utilize various social networks in
todays society. I will use this to back up my argument of technology taking away from
one-on-one human intimacy.