Unit 2 rough draft

Rory Day 

Lyndsey Weiner 

WRT 205

3/6/2024

                        Unit 2 Rough Draft

Technology has been an ever evolving concept within our society, and has drastically changed human development and the way that we interact with the world around us.  More specifically technology surrounding the way that we connect with one another.  The internet age and rise of social media has been the catalyst for innovation and the connection of people all around the world.   As of 2024 research has found that over 5 billion people use social media making up 63% of the world's population.  This has allowed for people to be able to communicate and spread ideas, as well as make friends throughout the world.  There are so many positive and great impacts to our world that would not be possible without the innovations and growth of the internet and social media.  With that being said not every change that social media and the internet have caused was positive.  Social media is created with the  intention to allow for people to see what their friends were up to and as a source of entertainment.  The entertainment aspect is where a large issue arises because companies are incentivized to have as many people intaking their content as possible.  This constant need to grab the attention of their audiences and the constant information being available to society has caused a new type of addiction.

Content addiction is a major issue within our society and has so many detrimental impacts to those afflicted.  Studies have shown that people check their phones 144 times on average everyday, with an average of four hours and thirty minutes of screen time.  As well as 56 percent of poll participants admitting that they are addicted to their phones.  People have the ability to be more connected than ever through social media, but seem more disconnected than ever.  With the increase in screen times  of social media usage  has also seen a rise in social isolation, depression, anxiety, and other psychological disorders.  While people are also sleeping less and are less active than ever.  Social media networks are being used as a distraction for real problems within their life, and compounding on the already apparent issues within our society.  Attention spans have also been found to be lowering year after year because of the amount of stimulation and entertainment provided by our technology today.  To the point that people really never have any down time any more.  Instead of sitting and watching a show or reading a book which is much more long form content, we have seen the rise of minute long Tik Toks and short form content become dominant.  A study on the performance of tweets found that the shorter the tweet the more engagement on the post it would garner.  In a time where people's attention spans are so low and people can have their attention grabbed and distracted in many ways we have seen this effect that we intake news and learn.  There has been an emphasis placed on attention grabbing headlines and shocking takes used to garner attention.