Essay Sample on Beyond the Like Button: Unmasking the Loneliness of Social Media Popularity

1. (A and B)

In this compelling essay, Hal Niedzviecki effectively demonstrates that it is possible to be deeply lonely while appearing to be the most popular person on social media platforms. With at least 700 friends on Facebook, the author felt and thought that he was doing well in his ability to make friends, only for his social experiment to prove him otherwise.

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In this essay, the author sought to fill the void that had emerged in his life after falling out with a long-time friend. Social media emerged as an easy alternative and with 700 friends on Facebook, Niedzviecki invited all these friends to a party in Toronto. After announcing the party only fifteen people responded that they were planning to attend sixty of them were in doubt about showing up (Niedzviecki 39). Eventually, only one person showed up. The attendee even confessed that she had toyed with the idea of not coming too.

2. (C)

One of the themes from the narrative is that social media is not an alternative to real-life human friendship. Niedzviecki almost had 700 friends on Facebook and thought that he could replace some of his friends with the new ones that he was connecting with on Facebook. However, on the pre-agreed day of the party, only one of the new friends came and did not stay long.

The other dominant theme in the essay is that social media is a different world with different rules and expectations. As Niedzviecki would find out, on Facebook, "definitely attending" translates to "maybe" and "maybe attending” translates to “not likely” (Niedzviecki 40). Hence, the two worlds are governed by different languages and cues. What this shows is that lying in social media should not be regarded as lying in the real world because the two can be viewed as parallel spaces with different rules and different expectations.

3. (D)

To make his point, the author uses statistics throughout the essay. The very first piece of statistics comes in the very first sentence, announcing that the author intends to use plenty of statistics to back up his argument. In this first sentence, he highlights that he logged on to Facebook and found he almost had 700 friends. He uses more statistics to highlight the number of people who said they would attend the party as well as those who were doubtful. He winds up the essay with a powerful statistic that despite 700 friends he was drinking alone. The statistics are effective in the essay in emphasizing his argument that social media cannot replace real-life human interaction.

The author also uses humor, especially sarcasm to highlight how it is possible to be lonely in a sea of numerous online friends. For example, such phrases as “my love of being left alone,” my lack of mysterious association with the Masons,” and “you have me all to yourself” are phrases of dark humor that the author uses to mock his situation (Niedzviecki 40).

The use of both statistics and sarcasm has proven to be an effective tool in mocking the situation that he finds himself in. The author uses statics to contrast social media and real-life friendship and the resulting contrast drives his point home. For example, while on the one hand, he has about 700 friends on Facebook, on the other hand, only 1 attends his party. Hence, through the use of statistics, the author manages to highlight the difference between real and imagined or fake online friends.

Also, the use of sarcasm to mock his social experiment makes the essay interesting to read. It is easier to remember humor. As a result, it is easy to remember almost the entire narrative because there are almost pieces of humor in every paragraph. In the end, the author can effectively highlight a concerning social issue in a manner that is highly likely to be remembered for a long time.

4. (E and F)

There are a few phrases and words that I found impactful in the essay. One of these phrases is "beneficent and unworried” (Niedzviecki 40). This phrase sums up the shallow nature of social media interaction as everyone hides their true feelings and life and exposes to the world their “good side” or the aspects of their life that they want the world to see.

Another of the important phrases is “the beer arrived, a British import” (Niedzviecki 41). This imagery created by the phrase paints out the modern world and modern social interaction in a way that no amount of words could. Beer can make its way across the Atlantic Ocean, but friends in the same continent or city cannot make time to meet. It highlights that despite increased globalization, meaningful social interactions are dying out.

This provocative essay by Niedzviecki has aroused my interest to further study the topic in terms of why social media does not complement real human interaction. While the intention of social media might have been to take advantage of advancements in Information Technology and the internet to increase human interaction, the result seems to have been counterproductive- the replacement of human interaction with “likes” and “comments” on Facebook.

Work Cited

Niedzviecki, Hal. "Facebook in a Crowd." The New York Times Magazine 24 Oct 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26lives-t.html.