Social media connects us to far away loved ones

The argument

Social media has the power to connect us with friends and family all around the world, and that reach is what makes it relevant to mental health rather than merely convenient. If our loved ones live far away, sites like Facebook let us see their photos and read updates on their lives — not as a substitute for a conversation we could otherwise have had, but as contact where the alternative was none. Distance used to mean that a relationship thinned out to occasional news; the ordinary daily detail that keeps people close was simply lost. Social media is also a great way to reconnect with old friends we have lost contact with. Friendships usually end through circumstance rather than decision — a move, a change of job — and until recently there was no practical way to find someone again once the thread was dropped. That such reconnection is now routine means a category of loss that people used to accept as permanent no longer has to be. The same applies to professional life. LinkedIn helps us make connections with people in fields similar to our own, which supports networking and betters our work — and work is where a great deal of adult social contact and sense of purpose actually comes from. Taken together, these uses do two things: they enable us to help loved ones stay up to date with our lives when we live far away, and they help us network on a professional level. Both are immensely beneficial to mental health, because each addresses isolation at its source. What they provide is the feeling of being connected as humans, which is precisely what distance and lost contact take away.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Social media actually makes us feel more isolated than connected to people. It takes time away from our day that we could be using to connect with people in real life. We only see peoples highlight reels and compare them to our real life, and we feel left out when we see friends at an event together. We don't feel connected to our friends and loved ones; we simply feel inferior.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] If we want to stay in contact with someone we can call them (or send them letters). Social media detaches us from actually communicating with them, simply showing us pictures and small parts of their life.