The Destruction of Human Conversation

The Destruction of Communication

My generation faces many problems. One of the problems my generation faces is the lack of communication between each other because of new technology. Technology has its great benefits for entertainment, communication, and the resources to research information on anything you want. Not only does technology has its great benefits, but it can be accessed anywhere: at home, in school, in cafes, or libraries. Also, obtaining technology can be cheap depending on what year the type of technology you’re getting or where you get it from; either the store or from trades. But the use of too much technology can alter the way we communicate. You might ask, “How would I know if technology is changing the way I communicate?” Well, you won’t be able to tell if technology really is changing the way you communicate. Without our knowing it, technology is changing the way people communicate. Take the use of cell phones in my generation. When it comes to communication in my generation, most people would rather text, email, or “i.m” (instant message) each other with their cell phones besides spending a day or a few moments to build that personal connection and talk face to face. This sort of situation decreases human relation skills in most people because you’re not able to see the emotion the person is expressing through a simple text, email, or “i.m”. It becomes even worse when people are communicating through cell phones, the receiver of that message can possibly misinterpret the message and misunderstand the messenger. Most people would even reply back with a messages like, “Why are you yelling?”, or begin to ask, “Why are you having an attitude?” through a text, email, or “i.m” as if they’re talking face to face. So in a way without knowing it, the people in my generation are replacing the feeling of communicating on a personal level, electronically. With the ability to communicate electronically, it has its perks for asking quick questions or to stay connected with friends and families that live far. However for it having the perks of sending messages fast and easy, it also has its consequence into becoming a habit to mostly communicate through text and slowly replacing the human relationships that require face to face attention. In addition when people do communicate on a personal level it makes it hard for them to make eye contact, or relate to each other because they’re attention is on their phones or because they’re anticipating a text, email, or “i.m” to be received. There’s a big difference between communicating electronically and communicating on a personal level. By messaging electronically you have the ability to edit, delete, and change what you were going to type down whether or not it’s something you would normally say in person. When it comes down to talking on a personal level, it takes place in real time and you can’t control what you’re going to say; whatever you say you can’t edit, delete, or change. Technology has lead people in the direction of not having to leave their homes at all if they so choose. With new software that has been developed to video chat, text, email, and instant message in the comfort in your own home, it would replace conversations into connection. Conversation is the informal exchange of ideas of spoken words. Meaning having a conversation with someone requires the ability to talk socially with others in real time and not communicating through text. Connection is a channel of communication: a telephone connection or internet connection. Not only has technology has changed how people in my generation communicate without knowing it, but also changing the way on how they would express their thoughts and feelings. Most people in my generation are putting their thoughts via social media which can create a communication barrier. Instead of just communicating with one another on a personal level, one turns to social media to express how that person may feel and again can become misinterpreted by the receiver of the communication. An enormously amount of people in my generation send a great deal of texts, emails, and instant messages: in class, while they’re driving, at concerts, funerals, at the dinner table, even while making eye contact, and etc. Without knowing it we are taking our full attention off what we were doing or removing ourselves from where we are mentally to look at our phones. We set ourselves up for trouble on how we relate to each other, but also on how we relate with ourselves in our inability for self-awareness. It seems that we sacrifice conversation for connection and change ourselves to not care anymore. Texting, emailing, and instant messaging may work for gaining slight fragments of information like, “I’m thinking about you,” “Where are you,” or even just for saying, “I love you,” but they don’t really work for learning about each other. For really coming to know and understand each other as you can through a conversation. You probably have heard people in my generation say, “I’d rather text, than talk.” This statement is proof that shows technology is changing the way people in my generation communicate. Before having cell phones at a young age we use to have simple conversations that has now turned into sending a text to mom asking if the food is ready, or vice versa. This shows that the people in my generation get so used to making those small changes out of real conversations, so used to doing little effort to communicate face to face that they’ve become almost willing to dish out people altogether