Communication Disconnect

Technology has provided the world with a far more efficient, easier and convenient way to live and communicate. When discussing the topic of communication today, most people would bring the topics of texting, or social media sites as their prime ways they communicate. The question of whether these forms of communication have impacted our lives positive or negative, I think can be discussed both ways. On a positive note, it has strengthened networking ties because of the ease of reaching out to someone on the other side of the world, is less time consuming with our busy lives, and it takes the costly bills of international calling out of the equation. But more importantly, I think the negative effects of the way we primarily communicate today should be up for discussion and has proved to be a problem, especially with today’s younger crowd. The first note is the lack of confrontation. I am going to direct this towards the children and young teens today because it seems the affect them the most. Kids today have grown up with texting and using Facebook, Twitter etc. to communicate with friends or family. Very few kids today actually call their friends to hang out. I think it also affects confidence with our younger generation. This lack of face-to-face contact, or verbal articulation has become an enemy in the sense of school, oral presentations, job interviews etc, because of the lack of confrontation. Fear of speaking out loud in class, or asking questions has developed largely due to the inexperience that children receive do to these common communication avenues in my opinion. I also think it has created extreme obsessions. I see it with my sisters everyday. My 10 and 12 year old sisters do nothing but stare at their phones and text or chat on Facebook, while time should be spent on homework. Another important topic is the number of car accidents that have risen since the onset of texting while driving. Identity theft from Facebook has also come up in recent news. Many other negative effects with social networking have developed but I think it is also important to understand that responsibility is key with this. Not to sound too pessimistic with these ways, it has developed into a brilliant idea that has sparked many other advancements in technology. The biggest thing that I take away with this is that with advancements in technology, true personal ways of communication have diminished.