Unit 1 Socratic Seminar: Is Social Media More Beneficial or Negative to Society? Directions: Read and Annotate the readings by making comments in the document, or the margins if you’re doing it on paper on the 2 articles listed below. Use a physical highlighter or highlighter tool for quotes/ideas you want to explore more and talk about. TYPE YOUR ANSWERS IN BLUE IF DOING THIS DIGITALLY.<br /> Fill out the Summaries at the bottom of Fill out the 6 questions you will use during the Socratic to drive the conversation. Do this part LAST!

Write out the 6 Questions you will use during the Socratic Seminar. (Do this LAST IN BLUE FONT) 1. How will social media evolve in the future 2.How is social media affecting our outside interactions with others 3. 4. 5. 6.

Reading #1: Supporters Argue: Social Media Is Beneficial Overall 1a Supporters argue that social networking is a phenomenon that is beneficial overall and has changed the world for the better. Perhaps the greatest measure of social media's success, they contend, is the role it played in ousting undemocratic governments in Tunisia and Egypt. Journalist Peter Beaumont of the British newspaper the Guardian argued in 2011 that "a young woman or a young man with a smartphone" was the "defining" image of the Arab Spring. "The instantaneous nature of how social media communicate self-broadcast ideas, unlimited by publication deadlines and broadcast news slots, explains in part the speed at which these revolutions have unraveled, their almost viral spread across a region," he contended. "It explains, too, the often loose and non-hierarchical organization of the protest movements unconsciously modeled on the networks of the web." 2a Indeed, supporters argue that social media can be extremely useful in encouraging people who would not typically be politically motivated to engage in various issues or causes. While such statements are sometimes derided by critics as "hashtag activism" or "slacktivism," defenders insist that such actions really can make a difference. "What is commonly called slacktivism is not at all about 'slacking activists,'" Harvard University sociology professor Zeynep Tufekci wrote on her blog in 2012. "[R]ather it is about non-activists taking symbolic action—often in spheres traditionally engaged only by activists or professionals (governments, NGOs, international institutions.). Since these so-called 'slacktivists' were never activists to begin with, they are not in dereliction of their activist duties. On the contrary, they are acting, symbolically and in a small way, in a sphere that has traditionally been closed off to 'the masses' in any meaningful fashion." 3a Social media has many other benefits, advocates contend, including the potential to assist during times of catastrophe. During and after the terrorist attacks that rocked Paris, France, in November 2015, supporters note, people took to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to communicate to loved ones that they were safe, or to offer refuge to people stranded in the city. "The attacks which ravaged the French capital yesterday showed how social media can also play a much more positive role," Forbes contributor Federico Guerrini wrote. "Facebook activated its Safety Check tool…to help people in areas affected by a disaster let their Facebook friends know they are safe. Twitter was also helpful: residents used the hashtag #porteouverte [open doors] to offer shelter to people stranded in the city." Advocates of social networking contend that sites like Facebook and Twitter have brought people closer together. "It has never been easier to make friends than it is right now, mainly thanks to social networking sites," writer Dave Parrack argued on the technology website MakeUseOf.com in 2012. "Just a few decades ago it was pretty tough to connect with people unless you were the overly outgoing type able to make conversation with anyone at a party. The rise of mobile phones helped change this, connecting people in a new way, but then social networks sprang up and the whole idea of friendship changed once more and forever." 4a Supporters maintain that social networking sites increasingly function as a refuge where people can relax with their friends and family. "This is where social media become a powerful social force in the modern sphere," Taso Lagos of the University of Washington wrote in the Seattle Times in 2012. "Because we live in a world of constant anxiety and stress about our lives, our careers, the planet and the fate of our families and friends, trusted sites like Facebook and Twitter are places we turn to relieve this tension and allow us to live and express our humanity." Social media, he argued, are "the community centers of the future." 5a Such sites provide many valuable benefits, defenders argue, including enhancing people's sense of self-worth. The act of taking and posting selfies, they contend, helps people exert control over their self-image and the way they are viewed. "The harshly judged practice of self-picture taking," Huffington Post contributor Molly Fosco wrote in March 2014, "while perhaps excessive or annoying at times, can actually be a really simple way to feel really good about yourself…. Although our selfies might be veiled in narcissism, self-obsession, or boastfulness I think that for many it's a genuine attempt to boost self-esteem. Seeing a close-up picture of your own face and willingly showing it to thousands of people with one click is a form of self-confidence that I don't think should be quickly dismissed." 6a Supporters of social media discount many of the fears typically raised by opponents, noting that it is common for new technology to stir criticism. In the late 19th century, they note, some observers predicted that the telephone would severely damage interpersonal relationships, just as detractors of social media do today. The telephone "was going to bring down our society," Megan Moreno of the University of Wisconsin in Madison told the New York Times in 2012. "Men would be calling women and making lascivious comments, and women would be so vulnerable, and we'd never have civilized conversations again." She added, "When a new technology comes out that is something so important, there is this initial alarmist reaction." Write out a 100-word summary of your thoughts/ideas/opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of the Beneficial Side. (TYPE IN BLUE FONT) Social media supporters argue that it is a good thing for the world and there is proof that it helps the movements like Arab Spring to go on smoothly and global peace talks to be the most constructive. It leads to a lot of people and even calling on them to fight for their cause. It is useful for giving real time help like social media platforms and info at the time of an emergency and also brings people who don't live close to each other, closer to each other. Social media can also lead to the development of good self esteem through many apps. These benefits of the media source have risks which include being heavily dependent on technology, getting wrong info, and the threat of getting into harmful sites with people despite how useful it can be sometimes .

Reading #2: Opponents Argue: Social Media Is Not Beneficial Overall 1b Opponents of social networking argue that such sites are not beneficial overall and that they gradually erode many essential aspects of communication and socialization. "The shortcomings of social media would not bother me awfully if I did not suspect that Facebook friendship and Twitter chatter are displacing real rapport and real conversation," New York Times commentator Bill Keller argued in 2011. "The things we may be unlearning, tweet by tweet—complexity, acuity, patience, wisdom, intimacy—are things that matter." 2b Indeed, critics contend, the rise of social networking has coincided with a decline in the quality of conversation. "As we ramp up the volume and velocity of online connections, we start to expect faster answers," MIT psychology professor Sherry Turkle wrote in the New York Times in 2012. "To get these, we ask one another simpler questions; we dumb down our communications, even on the most important matters." 3b Opponents argue that social media can contribute to feelings of sadness and loneliness. A study by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2013, they note, found that college-aged users felt worse the more they used Facebook. Because people's Facebook personas are often curated to make their lives seem fun or perfect, critics argue, that browsing social media can contribute to feelings of inadequacy. "When you're on a site like Facebook, you get lots of posts about what people are doing," co-author John Jonides, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan, told National Public Radio in 2013. "That sets up a social comparison — you maybe feel your life is not as full and rich as those people you see on Facebook." 4b Social media, critics charge, can lead people to obsess about themselves and their self-image to the point where it can be harmful. People need to look deeper for self-worth, they contend, than achieving "likes" by posting selfies on social media. "[I]if you've just spent half an hour editing a photo by blurring around your eyes with one app, adding eyelashes with another, then changing the colors with a third," Teen Vogue contributor Tiffany Perry wrote in March 2016, "chances are you're giving too much merit to how others perceive you." 5b Other critics claim that the impact of social media on political phenomena like the Arab Spring has been overstated. New Yorker columnist Malcolm Gladwell noted in 2011 that many revolutions took place throughout history before the advent of social networking. "People with a grievance will always find ways to communicate with each other," he wrote. "How they choose to do it is less interesting, in the end, than why they were driven to do it in the first place." 6b Opponents also assert that promoting political or social causes on social media has little real impact other than to make the person making the post feel good about themselves. In 2013, for example, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), a U.N. organization that raises money to help and protect children throughout the world, ran an ad campaign with a slogan that read "Like us on Facebook, and we will vaccinate zero children against polio." The point of the campaign, UNICEF explained, was not to disparage "likes" but to encourage more active support, such as contributing money to buy vaccines. "Slacktivism's inherent laziness disqualifies it as a real agent of progress because it does not possess the enthusiasm necessary for change," contributor Elias Tavaras wrote for the Hill in January 2016. "How can a post on Facebook inspire necessary action, especially when sitting down on a comfy computer chair? Indeed, the passion one may feel disappears, with a simple scroll or is drowned out by the other slacktivist posts." 7b Critics charge that social media users are in danger of having their online personas co-opted by corporations eager to collect the information users share and employ it for marketing purposes. Robert Barry of the pop culture website The Quietus argues that social media is turning people into "branded products." "Online businesses which seem to be promising something for nothing—from social networking to file sharing—are really offering you, their audience, as a readymade and fully packaged item for purchase," he argued, "be that by the ghost of advertising's future, or the investor whose faith gives that ghost substance." Write out a 100-word summary of your thoughts/ideas/opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of the Against Side. (TYPE IN BLUE FONT)