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  • Essay / The film on social networks: dissecting the character of Mark Zuckerberg

    As technology advances, our world becomes a much simpler and more convenient place to live. We send messages with the click of a button, we chat with our family members halfway across the room with just the press of a few keys, and we write. letters by e-mail, sending them to arrive in our correspondent's inbox in a few seconds. Communication between people has never been as immediate, as fast and as simple as today. Ironically, the ease of communication between people has arguably also led to a lack of disconnection. Experts say tweets, Facebook messaging or Google emails harm our social interactions and erode our ability to understand each other face to face. After taking this communications course and watching The Social Network, I discovered various ways in which the main character, Mark Zuckerberg, fails to communicate and understand his peers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay The first example of miscommunication occurs early in the film between the protagonist, Mark Zuckerberg, and his then-girlfriend , Erica Albright. While watching the movie, I initially assumed that Mark and Erica were on a date and not a long-term relationship. However, as their conversation unfolds, the audience discovers not only Mark's lack of communication skills, but also that Erica is, in fact, his girlfriend. As Mark spoke, I noticed that he did so with ease, moving from one topic to another and returning to old topics. However, I've also noticed how this can be extremely confusing for many people, as demonstrated by Erica's baffled expression. This scene is just the tip of the iceberg of Mark's lack of communication skills. Not only is he unable to easily communicate with his girlfriend, someone he has probably known for months, but he is also unable to read her facial expressions and body language, another important part of communication and interaction. By observing their conversation, I could easily tell and interpret where Erica was upset by Mark's condescending words. For example, when he made fun of her studies at Boston University or when he insisted that she wouldn't meet the people he introduced to her alone because she just didn't belong. to this crowd, as Mark believed. Additionally, I found it interesting that Mark was so disconnected from not only his girlfriend's thoughts and feelings, but people in general. I thought this was an important scene to address in the film because it really illustrated Mark's self-centered attitude, his lack of connection with people, and also highlighted how he operates above the level normal of human thought. The next example of a lack of communication that I think is significant is Mark's email exchanges between Cameron, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra. After Mark angrily creates his Facemash website to get back at Erica for leaving him, he receives extreme attention from his fellow students, which was mostly negative attention. However, Cameron, Tyler and Divya, upperclassmen attending Harvard, discover Mark through their student newspaper. The group asks Mark to help create a website they have been working on for a few months called Harvard Connection. With little or nohesitantly, Mark agrees and begins working on the website. However, we find out that Mark is working on a website, but it's not Harvard Connection. As we watch Mark work tirelessly on his own, probably better, website, we also see him exchange emails with Divya. Mark creates endless excuses, whether it's attending class, eating with his parents, or asking for more time, in an attempt to avoid the threesome. On page 121, our manual states: “…our emails, text messages, tweets, and wall posts lack the nonverbal cues and hints that we provide in face-to-face conversations. » Using e-mails, Mark easily leads the trio, allowing them to believe that Mark is working on their website. Although Mark was deliberately misleading them, it is possible that the trio would have noticed Mark's lack of interest in their website and his lies if they had conducted their exchanges face to face rather than via email. Additionally, this time the trio wasting time waiting for Mark ends up costing them, as Mark is able to create the first exclusive social networking site. This is also an important example of a lack of communication on Mark's part because as the film progresses, we see his excuses come back to haunt him in the lawsuit filed against him. Additionally, Mark makes it clear that from the beginning, in his mind, he had no intention of working on Harvard Connection, but he promised the trio that he would. This once again shows Mark a lack of not only communication, but also consideration for those around him. Despite the fact that I didn't particularly like Cameron, Tyler or Divya, I felt like they were entitled to an explanation from Mark, especially after he promised to help them. This also shows Mark's selfishness, once again, because not only does he make the group believe that he is working on their website, but he also adopts their idea. Later in the film, after Mark brings TheFacebook.com online and it has grown to encompass students at many Ivy League schools, we see another significant example of miscommunication. At the beginning of the film, when Mark and Eduardo decided to create TheFacebook, Mark explicitly states that profits or gains of any kind would be split 70/30. Respectively, Mark would receive 70, while Eduardo would receive 30. This proposal was one that Eduardo happily accepted. However, we see Mark's selfishness come out again later in the film when Facebook receives $500,000 from an investor. Previously, Eduardo was upset that Mark allowed Sean Parker, co-founder of another popular website, to make business decisions given that it was Eduardo's job. In retaliation, Eduardo froze the accounts that Facebook was using to continue operating. However, after learning about the money, Eduardo unblocks the accounts and everything seems to be back to normal. This is unfortunately not the case. We see that with this investment, Eduardo's income goes from 30% to a measly 0.03%. This situation could have been handled in several ways in order to avoid the lawsuit that Eduardo ultimately filed against Mark. First, Mark could have respected the fact that without Eduardo, Facebook would not be. However, at this point in the film, the audience has had plenty of time to realize how arrogant and entitled Mark can be. Additionally, Eduardo could have handled the discovery in many ways, but he chose anger and confrontation first. Overall, I felt this point in the film came back to Mark's lack of communication that we see throughout the film. Not only does he not try to communicate,.