Social Media Sabotaging or Helping Real Communication
Social Media Sabotaging or Helping Real Communication
In a society where social media is growing daily and becoming our main source of communication, we often find ourselves thinking about what social media is actually doing for us. Is it helping us create something new and amazing (like talking to multiple people from all around the world simultaneously on the internet) that we get to be part of, or is it hindering our communication skills and putting a crutch on our lives? The real question is; is social media sabotaging real communication? A recent study done on Statistic Brain showed that 98% of young adults ages 18-24 use social media, with Facebook taking the lead with 1.4 billion users worldwide. We live in a world where our human interaction has become something irregular, even “odd” to technical interaction. We lose that sense of intimacy, connection with one and other. If 93% of communication is nonverbal body language, how are you supposed to truly get to know someone or understand what they are trying to say if only 7% of communication is only based on written or verbal word? You can potentially be whoever you want to be on the internet and no one would know. You control how people see you, how they perceive you. A Forbes article by Susan Tardanico that I read shared a story about a mother and daughter that texted everyday seeing as the daughter was away at college. On this specific day they were talking, and her daughter seemed to be fine answering her mother’s questions with enthusiasm followed by emoticons smiles and hearts. Showing that she was good, she was happy. Later that night, her daughter attempted suicide. In the days following her attempted suicide, it came to light that she’d locked herself up in her room crying, showing signs of depression. A completely different reality from the one she projected in texts, Facebook and Twitter posts. When you’re not speaking to someone face to face it is very easy to misinterpret what they are
In a society where social media is growing daily and becoming our main source of communication, we often find ourselves thinking about what social media is actually doing for us. Is it helping us create something new and amazing (like talking to multiple people from all around the world simultaneously on the internet) that we get to be part of, or is it hindering our communication skills and putting a crutch on our lives? The real question is; is social media sabotaging real communication? A recent study done on Statistic Brain showed that 98% of young adults ages 18-24 use social media, with Facebook taking the lead with 1.4 billion users worldwide. We live in a world where our human interaction has become something irregular, even “odd” to technical interaction. We lose that sense of intimacy, connection with one and other. If 93% of communication is nonverbal body language, how are you supposed to truly get to know someone or understand what they are trying to say if only 7% of communication is only based on written or verbal word? You can potentially be whoever you want to be on the internet and no one would know. You control how people see you, how they perceive you. A Forbes article by Susan Tardanico that I read shared a story about a mother and daughter that texted everyday seeing as the daughter was away at college. On this specific day they were talking, and her daughter seemed to be fine answering her mother’s questions with enthusiasm followed by emoticons smiles and hearts. Showing that she was good, she was happy. Later that night, her daughter attempted suicide. In the days following her attempted suicide, it came to light that she’d locked herself up in her room crying, showing signs of depression. A completely different reality from the one she projected in texts, Facebook and Twitter posts. When you’re not speaking to someone face to face it is very easy to misinterpret what they are