Social Networking and Its Affects on Interpersonal Communication Essay Example
Social Networking:
Has it Taken the Place of Interpersonal Communication?
Kywra Carter
GEN/200
08/18/2010
Nikki Sulcer
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past five years, welcome to the world of social networking. According to ComScore, over one billion people use social networking sites across the globe. That means that everyone who’s anyone has a page or account with twitter, myspace, facebook, skype or any of the other hundred emerging sites. People have discovered a better way to communicate with other people all over the world, far surpassing snail mail and e-mail. Why send a letter to your cousin living in France or pay outrageous money for a phone call to your brother stationed in the Middle East when they can be only a mouse click away. As many positive advances we’ve seen come from the latest web innovations, can it be said that there are negative ones as well? Interpersonal communication is defined as what one uses with both spoken and written words as the basis to form and maintain personal relationships with others (Heil 2010). Has this way of communicating gone the way of the dinosaurs? What are the effects social networking has had on some forms of interpersonal communication such as face-to-face, written communication, and telephone communication?
For face-to-face communication, let’s look at the dating side of the game in respect to social networking. If you have a television and have been watching it, it would seem as if everyone is on the search for their soul mate. According to online dating sites like eharmony, match.com, and tons of others, the internet is the best place to find your true love, or at least someone who catches your interest to start. Tens of millions of people are looking for that special someone using all types of services such as personality spectrums, personal preferences, and photo identification to narrow down the search of Ms. or Mr. Right. According to consumerresearch.com, one
Has it Taken the Place of Interpersonal Communication?
Kywra Carter
GEN/200
08/18/2010
Nikki Sulcer
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past five years, welcome to the world of social networking. According to ComScore, over one billion people use social networking sites across the globe. That means that everyone who’s anyone has a page or account with twitter, myspace, facebook, skype or any of the other hundred emerging sites. People have discovered a better way to communicate with other people all over the world, far surpassing snail mail and e-mail. Why send a letter to your cousin living in France or pay outrageous money for a phone call to your brother stationed in the Middle East when they can be only a mouse click away. As many positive advances we’ve seen come from the latest web innovations, can it be said that there are negative ones as well? Interpersonal communication is defined as what one uses with both spoken and written words as the basis to form and maintain personal relationships with others (Heil 2010). Has this way of communicating gone the way of the dinosaurs? What are the effects social networking has had on some forms of interpersonal communication such as face-to-face, written communication, and telephone communication?
For face-to-face communication, let’s look at the dating side of the game in respect to social networking. If you have a television and have been watching it, it would seem as if everyone is on the search for their soul mate. According to online dating sites like eharmony, match.com, and tons of others, the internet is the best place to find your true love, or at least someone who catches your interest to start. Tens of millions of people are looking for that special someone using all types of services such as personality spectrums, personal preferences, and photo identification to narrow down the search of Ms. or Mr. Right. According to consumerresearch.com, one