This article offers a thorough analysis of the global impact of social media on communication skills and social activity. It draws information from various sources, including published books and online articles. Emphasis is placed on web-based platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, which are especially popular among young individuals. As a result, excessive use of these platforms has led to addiction. The aim of this paper is to promote awareness regarding the adverse effects of social media on communication skills and propose potential solutions for addressing this problem.
Social media has the power to influence communication skills, with both positive and negative consequences. On one hand, it allows people to connect globally and communicate over long distances. However, excessively relying on social media for communication can lead to less face-to-face interaction and a decreased ability to understand nonverbal cues.
Rebecca Javeleau, a 15-year-old Facebook user, mistakenly invited over 20,000 people instead of her intended 15 closest friends for her birthday celebration. Surprisingly, around 8,000 individuals accepted the invitation resulting in over 1,500 guests showing up at the party. Managing such a large crowd required approximately 100 police officers and left Rebecca with no option but to hide.
There is a debate surrounding whether these 21,000 individuals truly knew Rebecca or can be classified as her friends. Nonetheless, despite this and other comparable incidents that have led to confusion and disruption in real-life scenarios due to social media, contemporary society still maintains the belief that platforms such as Twitter and Facebook aid individuals in staying connected with their friends and peers while enhancing their social abilities.
In a study by Konijn et al. (2008), it is commonly believed by scholars that new communication technology presents a risk to interpersonal communication. They contend that social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp isolate individuals from meaningful interactions and diminish their humanity. Moreover, these platforms also have a negative influence on our social skills by weakening our ability to communicate effectively. Additionally, the excessive usage of these sites causes people to neglect proper etiquette, further worsening the decline in their communication capabilities.
Spending too much time on social media can hinder face-to-face interaction as it lacks important nonverbal cues such as body language, voice tone, and facial expressions. Consequently, virtual communication cannot fully replace in-person communication and may hinder the acquisition of interpersonal skills crucial for success in real-life situations.
Approximately a month ago, an unfamiliar individual sent me a friend request on Facebook. We engaged in online conversation and eventually agreed to meet at a cafe. Regrettably, the encounter was uncomfortable as we struggled to find topics of discussion, resulting in an awkward thirty minutes of uncomfortably gazing at each other. This experience highlighted how social networking platforms can hinder in-person interactions and obstruct the growth of communication abilities.
According to researchers (Konijn et al., 2008, p. 15), computer-mediated communication (CMC) was expected to result in impersonal messages due to the lack of facial and tonal cues. As a result, social media is believed to impact a person’s ability to effectively communicate, including nonverbal signals, voice, and other cues. The use of body language provides insights into emotions, attitudes, and intentions of individuals (Dimbleby R. & Burton G., 1992, p. 37). Nonverbal communication (NVC), such as body signals, is closely related to how we perceive others and aligns with the concept of feedback (Dimbleby R. & Burton G., 1992, p.40).
One of the reasons why social networking sites are hindering communication skills is due to a lack of practice in active listening, a crucial skill for real-world conversations. True mastery of effective communication necessitates practice, which cannot be accomplished by simply typing away on a computer or cellphone while sitting on a sofa. Instead, it can only be achieved through face-to-face interactions and actively engaging with others.
The availability of a free application in the market that allows anyone to chat with each other all day long without payment became popular as news spread.
This application, called WhatsApp, was suggested to me by my friends. I got hooked on it and spent endless hours at home chatting with my friends. But when school started again, I realized that talking through text was easier for me than speaking in front of everyone, which was a challenge. This wasn’t just a personal issue; our whole class seemed to be addicted to similar messaging apps or websites, turning us into mechanical typists. A simple phone call could have spared us time and effort.
According to my perspective, the utilization of these apps or similar platforms has had a detrimental effect on our ability to communicate face-to-face. A European study was carried out with 635 participants aged 16 to 55. These individuals visited a website and completed an online questionnaire. The results showed that 48.9% of the respondents preferred texting on their mobile phones rather than making phone calls, and 26.1% acknowledged having excessive texting habits. Additionally, the study evaluated levels of loneliness, self-expression control, social interaction anxiety, and conversation engagement.
According to Reid & Reid (2007), 61% of participants confessed to communicating thoughts through text messages that they would be hesitant to express in person. Furthermore, a majority of 64% believed that they can effectively communicate their genuine emotions via text messages instead of face-to-face conversations or voice calls.
Despite the connectivity improvements brought by social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, research suggests that they can impede communication skills and promote isolation, which negatively impacts both our physical and mental well-being.
Instead of engaging in personal interactions, some people choose to stay at home all day and pretend to be someone else. On social networks, individuals often embellish their profiles to portray themselves in the best possible way. As a result, Facebook can become a benchmark for individuals to measure their own popularity and success compared to others. This may lead to feelings of sadness and loneliness if someone believes others are more successful than them.
Recent studies indicate that engagement in social media can lead to a sense of loneliness. This is mainly because individuals feel compelled to be consistently active on these platforms and surpass their peers. As a result, individuals who do not have a substantial number of friends frequently encounter feelings of depression and being excluded from social circles.
Social media overuse can lead to tragic consequences, including isolation and depression. This was exemplified by the unfortunate incident of a 15-year-old girl who tragically committed suicide by hanging. She experienced relentless bullying from her school peers, which resulted in feelings of intense loneliness and depression. Ultimately, she believed that ending her life was the only option left.
According to Konijn et al (2008), negative psychological consequences can arise from being ignored or ostracized, which is linked to feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, helplessness, invisibility, and frustration. Ostracism undermines basic human needs for inclusion, self-worth, autonomy, and significance. Such exclusionary behavior can be observed in actions like ignoring emails or consistently disregarding someone in a chat room (p. 203).
There are critics who claim that social networking sites may result in the creation of bigger social networks lacking diversity, ultimately impeding communication skills.
Despite the revolutionary impact of social networking sites on global connectivity, there is an ongoing debate surrounding their effect on the effectiveness of communication. For instance, imagine a situation where two individuals in close proximity choose to communicate through their iPhones instead of engaging in a traditional face-to-face conversation. Likewise, some people attribute fatigue or laziness as reasons for not personally interacting with friends who are just down the hallway. Additionally, although these platforms enable broader social connections, concerns may arise about the authenticity of relationships formed through them due to potential limitations in diversity.
Mintz et al. (2012) state that it has become difficult to ascertain the credibility of the person you are interacting with, given the rapid expansion of Myspace and Facebook. These websites have provided opportunities for individuals, especially tech-savvy youngsters, to adopt false identities. Conversely, critics contend that social networking sites such as these undermine communication abilities since people depend on technology for making plans and maintaining connections.
Additionally, individuals who use the internet often face criticism for spending an excessive amount of time in cafes and coffee shops. Nevertheless, it is typical for these cafe-goers to bring along their laptops and browse the internet while savoring their beverages. If their intention was to socialize and connect with others, why would they conceal their cellphones and laptops? How has technology improved communication between people?
Is it easier to allow anyone to see one’s privacy and know every single detail about that person? Doesn’t this ultimately result in spam and identity theft? How do we safeguard ourselves from harmful comments and actions when the identity of the offender is unknown?
The shift of interpersonal communication from face-to-face to mediated contexts can be understood through the framework of media ecology, as stated by Konijn et al (2008). The framework emphasizes aspects such as symbolic shifts, time/space relationships, interactivity, sensory bias, and conditions of attendance (p. 0).
Social media platforms not only reduce in-person interactions but also have a significant impact on vital social skills in society. Although Facebook is useful for connecting people, it primarily focuses on technology. We require meaningful connections and engaged conversations in real life. This pattern leads individuals to be engrossed in a virtual world while becoming more distant from actuality.
