Instigator / Pro
35
1731
rating
167
debates
73.05%
won
Topic
#3270

Social Media Corrupts Human Interaction

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
15
0
Better sources
10
0
Better legibility
5
0
Better conduct
5
0

After 5 votes and with 35 points ahead, the winner is...

Intelligence_06
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
One month
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
0
1492
rating
1
debates
0.0%
won
Description

Definitions:

Social Media: forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)

Corrupt: to change (something) so that it is less pure or valuable

Human: of, relating to, or characteristic of humans
(a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) : a person)

Interaction: mutual or reciprocal action or influence

------------

BoP: Shared. Con must prove that Social Media does not corrupt human interaction in order to win.

Have Fun!

Round 1
Pro
#1
1. Definitions and assumptions

Definitions

All of my definitions indeed come from reliable sources as they are from Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which has been regarded as reliable.

Assumptions

For obvious reasons, we are going to include the minimum requirement of assumptions so the debate topic make sense. These include but are not limited to:
  • Humans exist
  • Humans can interact with each other
  • Social Media exist and can be used for humans to communicate
2. First-round Argument

Non-assumption

We are not going to assume that "humans" only include those in our civilization as we know and certainly the range of "humans" should not be limited to such. For example, there exist potential societies where every member is instructed to have a part of their brain being destroyed as if done by an ice-pick, and there exist possible societies where gluttony is enforced to be lawfully illegal(which is possible). The range of "humans" are as wide as any organism as long as their cells are organized in the method that they are bipedal mammals.

Suboptimal Connection

From above, we can see that there is an infinite smorgasbord of possible human individuals(or at least a gigantic amount of possible human individuals), and the concept of "human" is not just limited to those on the planet Earth. As a result, any singular individual as an example would weigh next to nothing in the whole topic, since for every "normal" human there exists a corresponding individual with their frontal brain destroyed as well as one that can travel back and forth between time and space. In the end, the argument that matters is an argument that concerns about the principal qualities of humans, social media, etc; instead of individual examples.

Now, onto the corruption part. Again, what is required for something to be "social media", exactly? Electricity, exactly. How do we ensure that the information transferred by electricity gets carried on from front to back? We do not.

Data loss is a serious issue and one quite impossible to combat and defeat completely the same way that it is quite impossible to eliminate inaccuracy in measuring. In short, some information will always be lost in the transferring of human interactions, and no matter what, interaction through social media will be suboptimal.

For more primitive forms of social media, the energy loss is obviously visible. Sometimes the server lags and when only text is being transferred, it is impossible to know, other than hacking cameras, what the other person thinks when typing the message. Connection is suboptimal, which fits the definition of corruption, "so that it is less pure".

Then for more advanced forms, which we still can touch and see, the loss of data lies in that all our screens are 2-D, and it is impossible to see what is in the back of the other side.

No matter how advanced social media could be, there is always data loss. As a fact social media requires electricity in order to be called so. Electricity has a limited speed through conductors[1], and it cannot ever be infinity. Therefore, as long as it could be called social media, there will be delay---just like when the horses of the posts run day and night to send a letter in weeks, but optimized to much shorter, even though it never disappeared ever, just like the inaccuracy in measurement never goes away---which makes communication suboptimal due to said delay. Since Conditions making communication suboptimal and more of obstacles are indeed making interactions less pure and less of quality, it would essentially mean that all social media corrupt human interaction, or the topic statement is proven to be true.

3. Conclusion

  • Electricity is required to make social media
  • Electricity creates delay
  • Delay makes communication suboptimal
  • Suboptimal communication, by definition, is making interaction "less pure" and of less quality, which is definitely corruption
  • Thus, Social Media corrupts communication, including human-human interaction.

Con
#2
Forfeited
Round 2
Pro
#3
Extend?


Con
#4
Forfeited
Round 3
Pro
#5
It appears that my opponent has forfeited again. Extend.

As a note, atmosphere itself corrupts human interaction, as much as it gives foundation to human interaction. Unless we literally communicate via quantum entanglement or tachyons, it is literally impossible that there is no delay in human interaction, thus, a corruption between human interaction, via electrical means with a limited speed(light speed), causes corruption.

Vote PRO.
Con
#6
Forfeited
Round 4
Pro
#7
This is a full forfeit. I win.
Con
#8
Forfeited