Is Social Media Making Us Less Social?

1. Set Focus
Frame the inquiry with these essential questions: What does it mean to be social? Why is being social important?

2. Read and Discuss
Have students read the debate and then answer the following questions:

• What is the issue being debated? How does it relate to current events? (The issue is whether social media is making us less social. The issue is timely because more than half the world’s population uses social media, and experts expect the number of social media users to continue to rise for years.)

• Evaluate why these two authors might be interested in and qualified to comment on this issue. (Sherry Turkle and David Weinberger are academics who study the social impact of the internet. Turkle is a professor at M.I.T., and Weinberger is a researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center.) 

• Analyze Turkle’s view. (Turkle argues that social media is making us less social. She says that the way we connect on social media is contrived, with people creating unreal profiles and composing their comments in advance. She also says that social media makes us feel socially vulnerable, less confident, and therefore less able to connect with others.)

• Analyze Weinberger’s view. (Weinberger argues that social media is not making us less social. He says social media allows us to increase our number of “weak ties” and that these ties can give us a sense of community and spark new interests. He also says that social media allows us to see how we share the world with many different people.)

4. Writing Prompt
In an essay, evaluate one of the debaters’ arguments. Assess whether the reasoning is valid and whether it’s supported with evidence. Point out biases or missing information.

5. Classroom Debate
Is social media making us less social? Have students use the authors’ ideas, as well as their own, in a debate.

6. Vote
Go online to vote in Upfront’s poll—and see how students across the country voted.