The Social Networks Neal Gabler Analysis

In “The Social Networks” by Neal Gabler, he discusses the relationship that television has with its viewers. Gabler states that the amount of anti-social Americans is growing exponentially. He says that “television has become quite possibly the primary purveyor in American life of friendship and of the extended family is no recent blip.” What Gabler is trying to say is that shows like Friends and Seinfeld depict Americans as having a big circle of friends and family that constantly go over to each others unlocked houses, where they eat nice dinners on a daily basis. Where in reality, most Americans don 't have a big circle of friends because they 're all stuck making friends online. Gabler goes on to say that television is there to comfort …show more content…
He explains that the reason why is because they basically have no lives in real life, so they make one up on social media. They make it seem as if though they have hundreds of friends, and they go out all the time, and socialize with people, when in reality, they just stay locked inside their home making it seem like they go out. I also agree with this argument because I have a friend who in real life is a smart, quite, calm, and nice girl, but whenever I see her on social media she acts like a completely different person. She makes it seem like she goes out drinking every weekend, and pretends that she does drugs, and has a lot of money and men to her disposal. I have known this girl since 8th grade and I know who this girl actually is, but its like she gets satisfaction from trying to impress random people online rather than trying to impress her actual friends or actual people for that matter. Now-a-days it seems like more and more people are starting to emulate a false identity online. People are doing this so much that you cant trust anybody that you meet online and I mean anybody. For example, theres a show on MTV called Catfish, where this guy and his friend help people meet there online girlfriend/boyfriend. These people fall in love with other people via social media that they have never met before, all they 've seen are pictures. Every episode I have watched has ended with these people meeting each other, but come to realize that they look nothing like what they look like in their pictures. It just comes to show how desperate some individuals can