Question

Reading

Read the selections, and choose the best answer to each question.

Selection 1: Social Media Is Not Actually Social

1 It is estimated that five billion people used social media in 2023. That’s five billion people who could have been volunteering, spending time with loved ones, or helping their neighbors instead of staring at a screen. It is past time that people started focusing on in-person relationships and stopped relying on social media, which only worsens the problem of isolation.
2 Social media is often celebrated as a way for people to connect with each other. However, if that were truly the case, people would be less lonely. In fact, the opposite is true. Loneliness is becoming a bigger problem, and social media has a lot to do with it. Loneliness and isolation can contribute to a host of health problems, including heart disease, strokes, and dementia. People who are lonely also tend to have shorter lifespans than people with strong connections to others.
3 So, what is the link between social media and loneliness? In the past, people used to join teams and leagues. They met each other to go to dinner or the movies. They invited friends over to chat or play board games and took classes to learn a new skill or hobby. But these kinds of face-to-face interactions have gradually become less common. Now, people don’t need to leave their homes to socialize with others. Instead, they can “meet” on social media.
4 Yet, social media has become more like a prison than a party. People can’t escape from checking their social media accounts. They feel the need to constantly monitor whether someone has liked or commented on their posts. This is the case even when people are with others. How many times have you seen a group of people sitting together, checking their phones instead of talking to each other?
5 What is the solution to this dilemma, then? It’s not likely that social media will ever go away, but maybe we can all make a greater effort to truly spend time together. Let’s decide to lift our faces up and put our phones down for our own health and that of others.

Selection 2: Social Media Brings People Together

1 Social media has done a better job of bringing people together in the twenty-first century than nearly anything else has. It allows friends, relatives, and classmates to connect—or reconnect—with each other. Even total strangers living thousands of miles apart can engage in meaningful ways, all thanks to social media.
2 In 2023, about five billion people worldwide were using social media of some kind. This shows the power and influence that the medium has. It also demonstrates the connections that people have made on social media. After all, what are these five billion people doing if not engaging with one another?
3 Social media doesn’t just function as a means of casual conversation, though. It also allows people to bond over skills and interests. Whether someone is interested in dancing, photography, sports, or movies, they can find like-minded people to share ideas with and learn from. People can help each other improve and grow by exchanging information, photos, and videos and offering feedback to one another. Social media can also introduce people to new ideas or activities that they might not have otherwise discovered.
4 A frequent criticism of social media is that it isolates people, but imagine what the COVID-19 pandemic would have been like had we not had access to social media. In fact, use of social media sharply increased during the pandemic. Many people were unable to see each other in person, but they could still use social media to stay in touch with others. Being able to see and talk to friends and family, even virtually, helped people feel less alone during a very stressful time. How can this be isolating?
5 At this point, it’s hard to even envision what life would be like without social media. Would we all start spending more time in person with one another, or would we actually retreat from each other even more? My bet is on the latter, but I hope I never have to find out.


Reread paragraph 4 of Selection 1. In the paragraph, the author uses an analogy that compares social media to a prison. What kind of tone does this comparison help convey?
A. sympathetic
B. fearful
C. angry
D. critical

Answer 1

D. critical

The prison analogy expresses disapproval of social media—portraying it as confining and harmful—rather than sympathy or fear. The language (“can’t escape,” “feel the need to constantly monitor”) emphasizes a critical tone.