Introduction to Social Media's Impact on Interpersonal Communication
In this paper, we discuss the impacts of social media on the interpersonal communication of the individuals in any society. The people who are using these newer connecting platforms tend to lose their actual relationship as it takes a toll on how people interact with others. We would also discuss what different theories tell us about the impacts of use of social media.
Social media nowadays has quite a huge impact on modern life which includes interpersonal communication. In this research paper, we are going to raise some points which would form the basis for our issue, which is finding the relation between the social media and its effects on the interpersonal communication of individuals in the daily life. There is this lack of time for individuals as well as the families and people are very much focused on using the social media for the purpose of commination rather than building an actual relationship with people which would be based upon interpersonal communication. With the digitalization happening at a very fast pace, people have started to ignore the face to face meetings which helps in avoiding people and just communicating over their phones and other devices. The life itself has become very fast-paced and people don’t seem to have time to greet others out of their busy schedules.
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Social media has been defined as the forms of electronic communication which can be social networking websites or blogging using which the users start their online communications in which information is shared, ideas, personal messages and other content which is shareable.
Something in excessive amount can be bad, in this situation we are talking about the use of social media, which has created a rift between people. Ever since the man came to this world, he has the thirst to interact with the world. It started from simple languages to an advanced level where we use computers and mobile phones for that purpose. The communication stays there but the source changes from time to time. It feels like that with the advent of social media, has sacrificed the actual socialization which is person to person with something which is based on the screens (Keller, 2019).
The Shift from Face-to-Face Interaction to Digital Communication
Interpersonal communication can be characterized by saying the communication which takes between people face to face, or in a situation which involves the person being present physically and communicating with others. This communication is a very important need of people and even from the beginning, humans have been communicating with others and thirst for the socializing never ends. Talking to people is quite important as we dint ignore people and feel less lonely in this world. Interpersonal relation is a string and deeper relationship, it marks close association with people. This association can be based upon the love, inference, solidarity or any other social commitment. It also holds importance very much in the business world as well, face to face communication seems very necessary to deal in businesses.
Instead of bringing people together social media has been playing a role which is contrary to the task which is required of it. Although it would be right to say that people have been inclined towards becoming more social using these social media services but this has started this inevitable shift in the ways we communicate , people tend to prefer these social media more than going to people and talking to them as it seems more convenient as well as easier to establish. Much and more online communication has certainly reduced our interaction based upon face to face communication.
Theories Analyzing Social Media's Influence on Communication
We can use three different theories using which we can study and understand the problem at hand. These would tell us about the changes which are faced with interpersonal communications after social media. These are Technology Determinism, Theory of used and gratification as well as social penetration theory.
This says that technology is the determining factor or medium which has the ability to shape and scale the human actions and their associations. Social media would provide us with newer experiences and able to provide us with the opportunity to be anywhere in the world without actually going there. These would be an invaluable gift if the technology which we tend to enjoy.
This theory gives out four basics requirements which are Social interaction, personal identity, entertainment, personal relationship. All of these requirements are met by the social media entirely. People use these sort of services for the creation of social networks which basically enables them to socialize with other individuals and connecting with the people who are far away. They can vent their opinions using these portals and can get feedback which is necessary. This is used as a means to communicate their point to the world.
The process is very slow for the development interpersonal relationships according to this theory. It is noted in the research that social media does seem to have some sorts of effects over interpersonal interaction skills. The communication based on the use of computers has certainly sped up the whole process very much and people tend to disclose their personal information over these media services rather than talking face to face. The reason is that amount of control we get is much higher in the social media which cannot be the case of live discussion, as people do have time to think and reply to other people than to just say away which is done in live. This is how we talk about control in this situation.
The Negative Consequences of Excessive Social Media Use
One of the most negative impacts of the excessive use of social media would be the issue of alienation which is very destructive in nature. The social media tends to rewire the whole relationships and contributes to the alienation process very much. Alienation of humans socially is considered as a high level of isolation a human would endure and creation of distance among the individuals who would not be that much drifted apart as they are now. As people have started to spend most of their time in a life which is artificial and based on our computers, which they have created on these social media and spend very little energy to their current situations. The weakening of social ties becomes a reality. This is believed that behind liking, commenting and posting, sharing, there is strong hint of jealousy and anxiety, there are also hints of depression in some cases. It is argued by the scholars that there can certainty be some negative impacts on the quality of interaction. The underlying major reason can be thought of as the lack of verbal communication and this has left people to interact using social media. The nonverbal communication is a huge part of the conversation which we miss out through the social media, the voice tone, posture of our bodies, facial expression and gestures. Thus, nonverbal communication seems to be key to the type of communication which is considered to be rich. In absence of these things, message interpretation becomes a very difficult task to be performed and the actual meaning of the messages does not seem to be that much clear which is required by the reader to know the actual meaning. This is how the quality of the communication is depleted which leads to further animosity among the individuals. In social media the relations are depicted only through mere images. The characters of individuals are also affected by the use of social media communication. Social media has an effect on us and makes us impatient and anxious. Many teenagers, as well as adults, tend to wake up at night only to check their phone and tier notifications and fear of missing out on anything that would be happening around on the social media platforms, as that information might not be available the next day. We are losing our abilities of face to face interactions due to social media and that’s has become a huge issue for this generation.
Any tool would be a weapon if you hold it right. Social media should also be treated as a tool for people rather than man becoming a tool for social media. Furthermore, it should be used to the extent that it does not impact our lives in a negative way and should be advantageous to us. The time which is spent on using social media should be limited.
The Dilemma of Online Relationships and Cyberbullying
The impact of social media on our ability to communicate and interact can be seen throughout all the areas of any society. Social media certainly affects the interpersonal communications of the individuals who divulge in these platforms. The shift from actual interaction which is face to face to using screens is pretty fast and visible. People are becoming more social but only through the social; media ad the style has changed drastically. The interaction which is based on social media tends to have ties which are quite weak. We don’t actually feel that much connected with the people on the other end as much as it can happen in the face to face talk. Communicating more does not necessarily mean that the relations and ties are stronger. On social media, tend to trust the other party and we become quite open with them using only social media. They need to deepen the relationship is not realized in social media and people start to prefer avoiding the face to face interaction. These relations tend to exist in the status quo. We tend to connect with the people who have the same kind of point of view and we don’t get any diversity in the relationships which can be achieved in actual communication. The bugger the change in the technology, the bigger changes would be encountered in the style of communication. The influence is so much far stretched that bad online encounter would be equivalent to the same kind of feeling we get when we have a bad relationship in our real life, the only thing changed is the mode. Cyberbullying is an example of that which has same kind of effect which can be seen in actual bullying. There are cases where online bullying becomes more extreme than in real life bullying, Due to the fact of things getting viral and people are forced into isolation due to some small things they might have said.
There is an overload of information on the social media which stimulates the users to use to more and more so they can know what is going around them in the world. There is also the issue of lack of privacy in using social media. The information which we might have shared privately back then in face to face conversation is shared publicly or to a bigger circle than usual, this creates subtle issue for the privacy. So, it becomes very easy to get personal information of individuals o these social media platforms which might not be intended to be used by the publishing individual. The social media is likely to grow on unprecedented speeds, it is up to ourselves that how much of that we would need to consume, and we have to work towards making actual relations. The good and bad ways, both exist in using social media, it would be up to us how we choose to use it and how much we depend on it for socializing. It should be used as a tool to enhance the ties, not make the ties completely on them by forgetting the importance of the actual interpersonal interactions.
Conclusion: Balancing Social Media Use and Interpersonal Communication
We can conclude in the end that social media do tend to have a severe impact on the social interpersonal interactions of a person. The impact hinders the actual communication and social media platform is used only which creates the feeling of alienation among the users. There is huge importance of interpersonal communication which is important for human psychology and should be preferred. The use of social media should be limited by us, we should not become addicted to using such services and should just use them as tools.
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