Toefl Writing Prompt 2- Bond to the public

   21^st century is all about ‘bonding’. There are different kinds of bonding, as in psychological term, such as a bonding to one’s primary environment or the one to the strong authorities such as dictators. Without the bond, people become more independent as an individual entity. At the same time, it can make one feel isolated and extremely insecure. This is a main reason why people cling to the bonds, even if that indicates they are giving up their freedom. The bonding people are forming in 21^st century is different. It is a bonding to the public, when a person’s thoughts or actions are strongly influenced by the public.

   In 21^st century, a phenomenon that supports this whole ‘bonding’ idea is ‘social networking’. These days, people keep in contact with each other through social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’, ‘twitter’ or blogs. They share ideas and communicate, and make new friends. Most importantly and inevitably, they put information about themselves for the public to view. While doing so, people get sensitive about what others-the public-think about them. As they put more efforts and cares into them, they are being bound. This even causes them to feel anxious when they find out the bond to the public weakens. For instance, a person cares about number of ‘likes’ or comment on the post on their Facebook page.

   Not only the social networking sites but also the media plays crucial role. Media’s primary role is to report events to the people to know. Through the process, it is not only the reporting that they are doing. They can lead their reports to certain direction to get sympathies and formulate a ‘public opinion’. As there are more means to deliver the message, thanks to development of technology, it spreads quickly and in a large scale. It strongly influences individual’s opinion, brining their own opinion to be like the one in the mainstream. As an example, some fast spread gossips or rumors about socially prominent figures such as politicians or celebrities become the target of public opinion, like witchcraft.

   The idea of bonding stands out when we observe how individuals care about values that many people believe in. As the significance in reaching to a good and stable social status is increasing, things such as getting good scores, going to good universities, or getting a good job are being stressed. Meaning, greater emphasis is put on things that people consider to be valuable or worthy in the society. Individuals, being influenced, struggle to attain the expected level of work or possess things that the public has put values into. This may leads them to forget about what they really like and cared for, often seen in news articles on teens without dreams they pursue, only focusing on values put by the public.

   Forming a bond. In 21^st century through the bond, we place our identity in the public. Through the bond, individuals may feel more or less secure. Through the bond, however, they can lose their unique self-identities, turning into the colorless drop in a mass of public. Being bound, people may be digressing rather than evolving. It is true that human cannot live without one another. However, emphasis should be put on living with them, not living according to them or being dragged by them. It depends on people’s attitude. What 21^st century would bring can turn out to be a harmony with a lot of social interaction or a mass lacking individuality, will, and characteristics.