As technology advances, more and more sites are being published that allows people to easily stay connected. Facebook, was originally the first “big” social media site followed by others like Twitter, Myspace, Instagram, and Snapchat. While these social media apps and websites become more popular, the younger generation has not lived a life without technology and social media. It’s not unusual to see toddlers be better at using a IPad than speaking full sentences. Living in an American culture society, day to day life is centered all around social media and this is a growing concern for many people. While social media is a pleasure in itself, it also has many downfalls, such as, social media and government censorship can give misguided information, decrease in personal relationship satisfactions, and damaging the younger generation's communication skills and mental stability.

 The Feed by M.T. Anderson is about a future, dystopian American society where the main character, Titus lives, and science in this society has advanced far enough for space travel. Titus’ world is in shamble. Most animals are gone, people are getting lesions from pollution, and the environment is on the verge of death. About one-third of the population has something called “the feed” installed in their brain. It’s a form of internet combined with every social networking site possibly imagined, and becomes a part of these people just as much as their body parts. Upon a spring break trip to the moon, Titus meets a girl named Violet. During their trip, an underground revolutionary organization called “The Coalition of Pity” hacks the feed of Titus and his friends. After getting rebooted at the hospital, they return back to Earth where Violet and Titus start a relationship, but something keeps them from connecting on a more personal level. Being the typical teenagers they are, Titus and his friends ignore most current events and instead, focus on partying. Violet’s feed malfunctions and the cost to repair it is too expensive for her and her family because she had it installed at age seven instead of at birth. However, in the meantime Violet tries her best to stay invisible to the feed by going on fake shopping sprees to keep from getting profiled. Her feed continues to malfunction and she is taken to the hospital after making horrible accusations at Titus. In an effort to fix things, Titus takes Violet on a weekend trip, but unfortunately things go wrong and they break up. After a couple months, Titus sees Violet, who is now brain dead and lost all motor skills. Titus finally connects with Violet and tells her about herself, which in the end he eventually becomes her “feed”.

Kathryn Porter, Jessica Mitchell, Meghan Grace, Shawna Shinosky, and Valerie Gordon, students at Chapman University, conducted an experiment called “A Study of the Effects of Social Media Use and Addiction on Relationship Satisfaction”. Chapman University was curious about whether or not social media affect personal relationships and their satisfaction. While the results did not support their hypothesis, they found a negative correlation between social media use and couple’s relationship satisfaction. In other words, Chapman University discovered that as the use of social media increases, satisfaction between people in relationships decrease. The study conducted two hundred and nineteen individuals between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. All candidates are users of social media and they all participated in an online survey about their satisfaction with their closest interpersonal relationship. With background research about the topic and using past studies from other groups, Chapman University’s results were conclusive with multiple results from other studies.

An average time spent on social media is about 1.75 hours a day, and teenagers spend about 27 hours a week lurking on social media. When social media first became relevant in the everyday American lifestyle, it was a necessity for people to be aware of their privacy on these sites to help protect themselves from danger. However, the younger generations have open pages, sharing almost everything online. With all this information online, it exposes the generation to corporate and governmental intrusions. This allows the American government to be able to profile their citizens, just like the characters in the Feed. Titus and his friends are watched by the government, and everything that happens in their life and on the “feed” is all sent back to the corporation where they profile these characters and moderate their “feed” to interact more with their likes. M.T. Anderson uses the “feed” to help highlight the issue with people unwilling to protect themselves from dangerous people, and profiling by the government. If the government is able to control what is seen on social media, and keep people from living their life independently themselves, then the government will have control over their people, just like the dystopian world in the Feed. Not only can the government censorship social media, but “the IRS trains agents to scan the media for information that can help resolve taxpayer cases” (McGillivray). Government isn’t the only corporation that can control social media and profile its people, “insurance companies use information gleaned from social media, as well” (McGillivray). A user can like a medical-related post and through this like, insurance companies are able to determine their rates and essentially raise them (McGillivray). “Some governments are taking advantage of social media’s newfound power, pressuring them to further national security interests. In the US, that’s meant enlisting social media companies to help fight ISIS and other forms of extremism” (Gourarie). The government is not the only form of censorship happening in social media. Each social media site has their own rules and expectations for posts. Because of these rules, people edit posts and sometimes are forced to change the post to fit the guidelines, thus censoring the information. For example, someone may get reported online for posting a girl with a period stain, however, images of nudity will be allowed. This type of censorship doesn’t control the people like the government, but it does affect how users view issues. Whether it’s the site's own censorship rules, or the government censoring media sites and using them to get information, social media can have false information and not fully tell the story of a post, or is changed in a way to affect how users view a situation.

Another issue with social media is its effect on relationship satisfaction. Through the study conducted by Chapman University, the results can conclude that the more time spent on social media, the satisfaction in personal relationships decreases, just like in the book the Feed. The Feed, is a love story between Titus and Violet, and throughout their relationship, something keeps them from connecting on a deeper level, which is the “feed”. Violet believes in living life without the “feed” and being as independent as possible without anyone telling her what she should wear, eat, look, and like. However, Titus makes the “feed” the center of his life. Though the two characters have contradicting views, the “feed” is what keeps them from truly falling in love with each other because it acts as a third party in their relationship. This can relate to the Chapman University study. With the results being a negative correlation, the study, and the Feed very much relate. Both infer the social media is the third wheel in relationships and it keeps the two partners from feeling intimate because of its distraction. How could anyone feel intimate with another person when social media highlights unreal relationships, or give the users an idea of what they should expect from their partner? Yes, everyone should expect to be treated right, but sites tend to show off the giant teddy bears, or the thousand dollars’ worth of Victoria secret from their partners. Relationships online are highlighted as Disney type relationships. Love isn’t based on what is bought, it’s based on how deep the couple connects and it’s almost impossible to connect on such a deep level when social media acts like a figure on one’s shoulder whispering in their ear. This is why social media is also considered a damage because of its ability to keep people from connecting on deeper levels. If the study conducted by Chapman University proves a negative correlation between the ages of eighteen to twenty-five, then how will relationships be in a couple years when the younger generations of are age to find their partners.

Though social media is entertaining and very convenient, it is also harmful to the younger generations. Because of social media, younger generations have developed new, and very extreme perceptions of how life is supposed to be. Social media highlights princess like relationships, rich car, mansions, and closest filled with an insane amount of clothing or accessories. They also highlight women that are beautiful and skinny, and men with perfect jawlines and abs. The younger generations haven’t lived a life without social media, and believe, through what they see on social media, that is how life is supposed to happen. This misguided information forces this generation to try to be like these extreme perceptions and can cause affect their mental stability. A study conducted by National Citizen Service “found that, rather than talking to their parents, girls seek comfort on social media when they are worried” (Udorie). This can lead to girls also using social media to find partners to talk too. Social media also pressure girls to be perfect with their body, clothing, and friend groups. The same goes for boys, however, girls are already more invested in their appearance and social media adds on to this stress. The younger generation averages out to spend about 1.75 hours a day on social media. This data doesn’t include the amount of time they spend texting. “Teens are so emotionally invested in social media that a fifth will wake up at night and log on” (Udorie) Studies have found that late night social media interaction amongst teenagers can be “damaging their sleep and increasing their risk of anxiety or depression” (Udorie). On top of the stress, social media adds to younger generations, it can also be another form for others to harm one another. Cyberbullying has become a big issue with younger generations, and because of social media, it allows bullies to attack others while hiding their face. Not only do they get misguided perceptions of how the world is, it also damages their ability to communicate and connect with each other. Due to the over use of social media, the younger generation has found a form of communication through the media as natural. This harms their ability to talk to adults and their peers. “A study conducted for online casino Yazino found that one in four people spend more time socializing online than they do in person” (Fowlkes). Relationships are not only about connection anymore, it’s about social media. Though it allows people to stay connected from all over the world, it is impacting the younger generations ability to communicate face to face. Also, social media doesn’t allow for individuality, just like in the Feed. Titus and Violet's relationship doesn’t fully develop because their feed keeps them from completely interacting with each other. It acts as almost a third party to their relationship and because of this, they end up breaking up. M.T. Anderson wrote this in the book because it foreshadows possible damage for the younger generations. Social media keep them from paying attention to reality and focus more on what their virtual devices have to say. Chapman University’s study can also show how it is damaging the younger generations. Though the study wasn’t conducted with only ages under 18, it still shows that there is a negative correlation between social media and relationship satisfaction upon the generation between eighteen and twenty-five. This is because social media keeps people from fully connecting with one another, acts as a third party, and gives off misguided truths about life. If the study shows a negative correlation with the older generation already, then imagine what will happen in a few years when the younger generation now, is all grown up.

Some people may argue that social media is a great resource to keep people connected and inform; however, most posts seen on social media are ads, ads with viruses, and misinformed information. Not everything read on the media will always be true and its unintelligent to believe that social media only states facts. Social media also misguide the people into believing how life is actually supposed to happen. Some will say it helps people learn how to treat partners in relationships, but Chapman University study proves this argument wrong and shows that it does in fact affect relationship satisfaction. Also, others may disagree with the fact that government censorship and control is a part of social media because America is a free country. Though this may be true, government does keep videos from war scenes in the middle east out of the media. Government also keeps the corruptness in the white house disclosed from the people. Social media and the government work hands on with each other to give the people something else to obsess about. It keeps the wrong information out of the hands of the people, and also monitors media to make sure there isn’t anything out there that could result in a revolution. There isn’t enough factual evidence to one hundred percent prove government censorship and control through social media, but it’s an opinion and a concern many have. Social media sites have censorship upon their own. Because of this people are forced to change their post to fit guidelines leaving information out of the context. Social media does increase teen awareness, worldwide connections and news alert; however, a lot of that information is misguided. It affects our youth in harmful ways and can distort reality. Another argument is that social media increases marketing exposure. Yes, this is true, but how many people have gotten viruses due to these ads? How many people has had their information stolen because they clicked on an ad that had attentions other than the one it showed? Though there are many positive sides to social media and many good arguments, there are also a lot of problems with media.

Technology will ever be advancing, and social media sites will forever be changing. It has become a part of American culture and it will be around for a long time. Social media has many benefits to its part, but there are many downfalls such as censorship, decrease in relationship satisfaction and decrease in mental stability and communication amongst younger generations. It is important for cultures, like America, to take action to prevent these downfalls. Social media is a great invention and keeps thousands connected from all over the world, and informs not only adults but also teenagers. There are many pros that go along with social media, however, it’s the damages it can cause that many are concerned about. 
