For centuries humans have communicated with each other face to face, in different languages and dialects. As we grow, we develop certain skills that allow us to relate and communicate with each other. In the last few years, social media has taken over the way we communicate. Social Networking has become common day to day communication tools among society. Rather than making eye contact, or being at the same physical place, individuals have grown accustomed to communicating behind a screen. Social media and social networking have an imperative role of people’s lives around the world. Sitting behind a computer communicating with cyber friends can be easy and fun however the overuse of social media leads to the development of poor communication skills. Communication can be categorized into three basic types; verbal communication, written communication, and nonverbal communication. As humans, we are drawn to one another and communicate with each other in a variety of capacities. There are several elements that are involved in creating and maintaining lasting and genuine relationships through communication, including recognizing body language cues and using effective listening skills. In correctly making use of these elements, one can see an improvement in the quality of social interactions, as well as increased confidence in engaging with others in a social capacity. These benefits can be essential tools in securing a job or building lasting relationships.
The over use of social media decreases the quality of relationships, and lowers individuals self-esteem. This is due to the decrease of verbal communication. Verbal communication is described as listening to others to understand their meaning. 38% of communication is based on paralanguage, meaning the tone, pace, and volume of speech (Mehrabian, 1981). A different tone can change the perceived meaning of a message demonstrates how clearly this can be true, whether in verbal or written communication. If individuals simply interpret these words without the added emphasis the true meaning of the conveyed message is unclear, however the emphasis shows us how the tone conveys a great deal of information.
Many academic scholars see social media as a threat to the discipline of interpersonal communication (Konijn et al. , 2008). Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other applications are hindering our social communication skills. As the time individuals spend on social media websites increases, the amount of time socializing face to face decreases. With the fall of true physical communication comes the collapse of quality communication resulting in the decrease of quality of relationships. Socializing via social sites lacks body signals and other nonverbal cues such as voice quality, tone, facial expressions, and many others, therefore it isn’t an adequate replacement for face-to-face communication. Social networking sites obstruct communication skills due to the lack of active listening. To acquire effective communication skills, individuals must practice, learn new vocabulary, and educate themselves. Social media restricts individuals from developing strong verbal skills. In a study of 635 participants who completed an online questionnaire, 48. 9% reported preferring to use their cell phones for texting over voice calls and 61% of the participants stated that they are uncomfortable communicating messages they send online in a face-to-face conversation. These frightening results demonstrate how social media creates a shield towards the outside world. An overwhelming majority of individuals have the courage to deliver a message via an electronic device that they would be unable to do so otherwise face to face. The temporary sense of bravery an individual gets before they send a hurtful message leads to the downfall of others’ self-esteem.
Social networking sites allow users to create electronic profiles for themselves, provide details about their life and experiences, post pictures, maintain relationships, plan social events, meet new people, comment on others’ lives, express beliefs, preferences and emotions as well as fulfill belongingness needs. Social networking sites can also serve as a basis for social comparisons, self-evaluation or self-enhancement (Lee 2012). Humans possess a fundamental drive to compare themselves with others. This serves many different functions such as fulfilling affiliation needs, evaluating the self, making decisions, being inspired and regulating emotions and well-being. Self-esteem refers to a person’s positive or negative evaluation of the self; i.e. the extent to which an individual views the self as worthwhile and competent (Lee 2012). Research shows that people who use Facebook frequently report higher depression rates and decreased well-being (Vogal et al., 2013). Two recent studies have looked at the impact of chronic and temporary exposure to social comparison information on social media sites in terms of the impact on self-evaluations and self-esteem. The first study found that people who used Facebook most frequently, had lower trait self-esteem that those who used Facebook less or not at all. These results suggest that chronic Facebook users experience a negative impact from comparing themselves to others who are they perceive as “better” than them in terms of their social media presence. The second study examined the impact of temporary exposure to social networking sites on state self-esteem. The results show that participants experienced lower state self-esteem and poorer self-evaluations after exposure to a person with a high activity social network. Generally speaking, viewing social media profiles with positive content resulted in poorer state self-esteem and more negative self-evaluations (Lee 2012).
Abundance exposure to social media impairs the ability to detect social cues and decipher emotion, and decreases the quality of our relationships. Non-verbal communication is an important part of communicating and it includes facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice as well as posture and space between individuals (Knapp, Hall, & Horgan 2014). When engaged in face-to-face communication, social information is conveyed by vocal and visual cues in the context of the situation. Non-verbal cues make up 55% of communication. The ability to understand non-verbal aspects of communication is vital because in social situations individuals must modify their behavior in response to the reactions of others (Knapp, Hall, & Horgan 2014). The capability of processing emotional cues is associated with personal, social and academic success (Knapp, Hall, & Horgan 2014). It has been proven that more than half of communication is nonverbal and without these cues that people use to decipher the messages that is received in person, people will not be able to properly understand what the other person is truly trying to say to the them. Not only does this lead to issues with work relationships, but it will also lead to people having issues within their own families (Knapp, Hall, & Horgan 2014).
The use of communication online for children has increased drastically over the past few years. This has led to them having fewer relationships down the road in life. These interactions online are having a detrimental effect on their emotional health that is seemingly irreversible. Children that begin learning how to interact with one another online are always behind the curve when it comes to having deep emotional connections with people and as a result, tend to struggle to make and hold onto friends for long periods of time. Moreover, children who understand emotional cues in social settings can develop superior social skills and more positive peer relationships (Sherman, Michikyan, & Greenfeld, 2013). In a recent study, a group of children spent five days in a camp without access to any screen-based or electronic communication resulting in being restricted to only in-person interaction. A control group remained at home with access to all electronic devices. The results showed that the children’s in-person interaction skills improved significantly in terms of reading facial emotions, while the control group’s skills remained the same. These results suggest that digital screen time, even when used for social interaction, can reduce the time spent developing skills to read non-verbal cues of human emotion (Uhls et al., 2014). An increase in a child’s use of social media has shown a proportional increase in a child lacking the ability to function healthily among his or her peers. When they can no longer function within these groups, they are not going to develop properly and when they eventually join the workforce, these issues will only be more prevalent and will become an increasing problem.
While the number of face-to-face interactions is decreasing, the quality of these interactions is also suffering. People are not having these intimate conversations and personal interactions with each other anymore. People, instead, have turned to the Internet to take away some of the nervousness that some may find in trying to start a relationship with another person. Asking questions about others, actively listening, and being able to read other people’s physical social cues are all important factors of holding an effective conversation. The constant compulsion to look at a screen does not give those that interact with them the impression that they are invested in the present conversation. The age of text messages, Twitter and Instagram has begun to impair the younger generation’s ability to actually hold solid, professional conversations on the phone. The tendency to text rather than call people has left the younger generation hopelessly awkward and nervous over the phone. Lack of basic phone skills contribute to the inability to articulate or explain anything with depth of thought and feeling and requires back and forth connection.
Admittedly, social media does come with its benefits. Social media allows individuals to communicate and remain in contact with friends around the world, as well as meet new people. These sites create a sense of community and provides the opportunity to connect with others with similar interests. Websites like Linkdn provide opportunity to network for job opportunities, and businesses are able to reach new audiences from their phones. Social networking allows for creative expression by using tools such as blogging and messaging to post ideas and stories, however these means are useless if one is unable to effectively communicate face to face. Establishing a solid foundation in communication skills will help effectively conveying your message behind a screen.
Social media has several severe negative impacts on communication skills. Fortuantely, previous generations had an ample amount of time to develop these skills, however current generations are skipping these development stages and are learning how to communicate only behind a keyboard. Social networking cites eliminate any chance for a deep, meaningful conversation. People have started losing their ability to communicate efficiently, which is a testament to what kind of total control social media has over their lives. If people were to start reversing the process of influence it has over them now, it might be reversible to the point where people wouldn’t see any serious detrimental effects over a generational gap. If nothing is done however, there will be a society filled with socially awkward individuals who can no longer hold a conversation in a normal, modern social environment. Overall, social media can be beneficial if used properly and in the proper proportions with normal face-to-face interactions. Currently, people are not doing this. They instead, are overusing it and allowing it to negatively impact how they conduct their lives, so it is easy to conclude that the negative impacts of social media far outweigh any benefits that they may provide to society at this time.