F2F Class Notes (Raph)[R]

Vocabulary

Differentiate (v): 1- to show or find the difference between things that are compared.
E.g.: It’s hard for me to differentiate between these two things.
E.g.: As a mother, it was easy for her to differentiate between her twins.

Society (n): 1-  a large group of people who live together in an organized way, making decisions about how to do things and sharing the work that needs to be done. All the people in a country, or in several similar countries, can be referred to as a society.
E.g.: The internet changed the way society works.
E.g.: We must also consider the needs of the younger/older members of society.

Social Media (n): 1-  apps, websites and computer programs that allow people to communicate and share information on the internet using a computer or mobile phone.
E.g.: Companies are increasingly making use of social media in order to market their goods.

Executive (n): 1- someone in a high position, especially in business, who makes decisions and puts them into action.
E.g.: She is now a senior executive, having worked her way up through the company.

Ban (v): 1- to forbid (= refuse to allow) something, especially officially:
E.g.: The film was banned (= the government prevented it from being shown) in several countries.
E.g.: She was banned from driving for two years.

Overwhelming (adj): 1- difficult to fight against. 2- very great or very large.
E.g.: She felt an overwhelming urge/desire/need to tell someone about what had happened.
​E.g.: She said how much she appreciated the overwhelming generosity of the public in responding to the appeal.

Overwhelmingly (adv): 1- strongly or completely; in an overwhelming way:
​E.g.: The team were overwhelmingly defeated in yesterday’s game.
​E.g.: People overwhelmingly believed the future would be better, and they were right!

A former Facebook executive has said social media is doing great harm to society around the world. The executive is a man called Chamath Palihapitiya. He joined Facebook in 2007 and became a vice president. He was responsible for increasing the number of users Facebook had. Mr Palihapitiya said he feels very guilty about getting more people to use social networks. He said the networks are destroying society because they are changing people’s behavior. Twenty years ago, people talked to each other face to face. Today, people message each other and do not talk. People also really care about what other people think of them. They post photos and wait to see how many people like the photo. They get very sad if people do not like the photo.

Mr Palihapitiya said people should take a long break from social media so they can experience real life. He wants people to value each other instead of valuing online “hearts, likes, and thumbs-up”. Palihapitiya also points out how fake news is affecting how we see the world. It is becoming easier for large websites to spread lies. It is also becoming easier to hurt other people online. Anyone can hide behind a fake user name and post lies about other people. Palihapitiya said this was a global problem. He is worried about social media so much that he has banned his children from using it. However, he did state that Facebook was a good company. He said: “Of course, it’s not all bad. Facebook overwhelmingly does good in the world.”

Pronunciation

Photographer: /fəˈtɑː.ɡrə.fɚ/

Magazine: /ˌmæɡ.əˈziːn/

Social: /ˈsoʊ.ʃəl/

Society: /səˈsaɪ.ə.t̬i/

Media: /ˈmiː.di.ə/

Differentiate: /ˌdɪf.əˈren.ʃi.eɪt/

Executive: /ɪɡˈzek.jə.t̬ɪv/

Overwhelming: /ˌoʊ.vɚˈwel.mɪŋ/

Overwhelmingly: /ˌoʊ.vɚˈwel.mɪŋ.li/