When constantly looking at life through a screen, we tend to not recognize social cues. Things like eye contact, crossed arms, and facial expressions can’t be seen when talking to someone through a screen, and it can be difficult to discern certain emotions through reading comments and direct messages?. As Konnikova puts it, “Some social skills may not develop as effectively if so many interactions exist online” (259). I for one know that if I just interact with people online, I would go crazy. I need to talk to people in person in order to have meaningful interactions. Face to face interactions make me feel like I have the ability to recognize social cues that I would be unable to see online. In this way Megan Phelps-Roper and I differ. She was able to have meaningful conversations on the platform Twitter, which I feel in itself is a feat to be celebrated. Twitter always gives me a negative vibe. People that use it tend to rip other people apart. Phelps-Roper did, saying things like “Have a lovely day, you’re going to Hell” (Chen 6). These tweets were harmful to the people on the other side of the screen. I believe that if Megan could see all of the faces of the people she hurt before she posted her tweets, at least half of them she would have thought twice about posting. This is what we miss on social media. Seeing emotions on someone’s face and how they choose to present them is the most important social cue of them all. A screen masks that.

Our lives become deeply affected by what we see on social media. I have never been cyberbullied or “called out” on the internet, but I know how negatively it can impact others. My friends have confided in me and told me that they’ve been attacked about their weight and physical appearance on social media. It deeply upsets me when I can’t do anything about it. Excessive social media usage disrupts our natural rhythm. I believe that we are born kind human beings. Social media and the platforms it holds teaches hate (along with caregivers) and the support that social media provides for a hateful society makes me nervous for our future. If hate can be taught so easily, can it be untaught? How can we provide a more welcoming presence on social media? Is it even attainable? All of these questions can’t be answered without an extensive uprooting of the values we hold when looking at social media platforms.

Commentary: I tend to rely on connecting certain ideas in back to back passages.