Effects of Social Media on Communication

Effects of Social Media on Communication

“6 Ways Social Media Changed the Way We Communicate.” Higher Ed Marketing Journal, 1 Sept. 2017, circaedu.com/hemj/how-social-media-changed-the-way-we-communicate/.

According to the journal by Higher Ed Marketing, there exist 2.8 billion users of the social platforms implying that almost a third of the population of the world is registered in a given social media platform. The social media is usually used for communication purposes, marketing and for educational purposes. In fact, the social media platforms to a large extent have affected the way we communicate with different people in our daily lives. For instance, it has created the need and urgency of an individual to share a given piece of information, videos, images and much more stuff. According to the article, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in the recent past increased the need for people to share their lives on the internet. The social media has been able to turn the world into a small village in the sense that various people across the globe can communicate with one another efficiently, sharing information with one another.

“How Social Media Has Changed How We Communicate.” Future of Work, 17 Mar. 2015, fowmedia.com/social-media-changed-communicate/.

This article by Mandy Edwards implies that the concept of “small village” referring to the globe is brought about by the fact that information is relayed faster to different parts of the world over a short duration of time. It illustrates that the social media has led to the loss of social skills by an individual as it has limited our physical interactions with our friends, parents and relatives. However, the author says that the media has now enabled thousands of people to make friends on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. This could not have been possible if not for the social media. In the ancient times, it was complicated to convey messages to people living in far places, but this is currently possible as one can quickly post some information on the social media and it reaches thousands of people at the click of a button. Excessive use has also led to more use abbreviations when conveying written messages. For instance, Twitter only allows ad individual to use a maximum of 140 characters hence the need to shorten someones to pass long messages. Though the media has made communications efficient, it is also important to notice the difficulties faced by individuals in the case they want to pass lengthy messages and the platform only allows a given length.

Maxim, Pimenov. “Public Access – How Internet Changed the Way we communicate.” Engadget, 29 Nov. 2016, www.engadget.com/2016/11/29/how-internet-changed-the-way-we-communicate/.

Pimenov Maxim in the article asserts that the social media has enabled people to access information as well as sharing that could not have been possible in the past. The platforms have changed the way people communicate in different places for instance in the workplace, maintaining friendships and much more. With the presence of the social media platforms, people no longer need offices, cafes and even homes to communicate with one another. This can be done in the comfort of each of the parties from their online groups in the social media. For instance, individuals can be able to conduct online conferences from their homes. The media has also enabled the occurrence of online relationships since people can date online as opposed to the past times where one required to meet other party face-to-face. The article shows how the media has enabled people to maintain a large number of friends that could have been impossible if not for the social media presence.

Big Blog, blogs.harvard.edu/bigblogger/effects-social-media-communication/.

An article posted on the Big Blog, a Harvard Blog and Marketing and Communications describes the adverse effects social media on communication. It starts by stating that despite the positive impacts of social media, many adverse effects result from social media usage. A critical negative effect of social media is deterioration of social communication skills. Use of social networking sites for communication reduces face to face communication among people. Therefore, this has led to lack of decorum that is required in interaction which in turn results in poor social relations at home, school, and lace of work. Non verbal cues used in communication are also lost. Another effect is increased spelling and pronunciation mistakes. Most of the communication on social networking sites is casual such that the messages exchanged do not follow grammar rules. Those who use social media for communication will eventually adopt the informal language even when writing official messages. It is advisable that people regulate usage of social media.

“Negative effects of social media on communication skills (Verbal).” Kenyayote, 28 Oct. 2017, kenyayote.com/negative-effects-social-media-communication-skills-verbal/.

An article written by Edwin Nyakangí touches on the negative impacts of social media on verbal communication. He specifically touches on the effects on teens that use the sites for communication. Some teenagers are already addicted to the use of internet for communication to the extent of addiction. Text messages are number one contributor to poor verbal skills among teens. Young people tend to communicate using symbols such as smileys, emojis and abbreviations such as “lol” for laughing out loud. These make them too casual in communication. Eventually, these symbols affect their verbal communication and can also lead to misinterpretation of messages. Another aspect of verbal communication skills that are affected is dialogue. Most social media communication occurs in written form implying that the communication is merely a monologue. Those who use the media platforms for communication will eventually find it difficult to engage in a sensible dialogue. To reduce these effects, parents should restrict their children on the use of social media.

Dantuono, Nicholas. “How Social Media is Effecting Social and Communication Skills among adolescents.” Sprin2015WRT205,2015,slwrig02.expressions.syr.edu/spring2015wrt205/2015/03/28/how-social-media-is-effecting-social-and-communication-skills-among-adolescents/.

A post by Nicholas Dantuono posted on Digital Lives Digital Worlds gives insights on how social media negatively impact communication skills among adolescents. He starts by stating that social media is part of our day to day lives. Its usage has increased significantly especially among the adolescent. He indicates some effects of social media caused by overindulgence into social media. The primary use of social networking sites is communication. Nowadays, adolescents prefer to chat on social media sites such as WhatsApp and Facebook than hangout and exchange ideas. This results in loss of social skills since face to face communication are highly minimized. Nicholas adds that social media destroys relationships. Relationships among youngsters help them cope with stress that comes with the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. For these relationships to work, physical communication is required. However, this is not the case with teenagers who rely mainly on social media to communicate with one another. They end up feeling lonely as they do not to hang around with their friends. Adolescents should balance the usage of the media with their physical interactions with friends and family.