Virtual Friendship And The New Narcissism Analysis

In the 21st century, one of the most compelling effects on society is the prevalence of social media. It has become almost a basic necessity to how people interact with each other. Christine Rosen’s essay “Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism” begins to break down the simplistic ideas of social media. Rosen develops the background of social media and its origin. Through comparing websites that were created in the 1980s that may no longer exist to modern websites that are sweeping the nation, analyzing how the users of these sites evolved. Her essay describes the ways that social media has affected the way everyday people communicate with the people in their lives. She introduces the idea that social media users sometimes post pictures and statuses for their friends to see that might be stretching the truth slightly to make themselves look and feel better. Rosen also relates social media to human interaction outside of the internet, considering things like caller ID, ATM machines, and even Stanley Milgram’s observations in the mid-1970s. Rosen’s original intention appears to be that Facebook …show more content…
This essentially means that humans in today’s society use social media to portray themselves in any way they choose to. She spends a good amount of the opening few paragraphs discussing this idea. Although it causes the reader to believe that this is the topic of her essay, the idea fades away as she moves into new topics. However, she then begins to delve into the history of social media and how things came to be. The word “portrait” is only mentioned twice after the opening segment. Her unclear thesis leaves the reader wondering when he/she will discover the purpose of the essay, questioning “what’s the point?” This stood out as a problem because the uncertainty almost becomes distracting. If the message is not completely clear, it is hard to absorb the information given by the

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Virtual Friendship And The New Narcissism Analysis

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