Social Media Is Retarding Our Communication Skills
Social Media is Retarding our Communication Skills
According to Cara Pring, writer and author of thesocialskinny.com, as of May, 2012, 62% of adults use some form of social media. If you observe any post secondary classroom before instruction begins, you’ll see the majority of students engrossed in some type of social media. We have become more comfortable engaging in the digital world than we are with the people right in front of us. Social media has allowed us to become more connected yet, potentially, more disconnected than ever before.
Social media is creating a generation of “over-sharers”. This need to over share can also create a dangerous environment. We have become very comfortable telling the world things, which in years past, would have been considered private information. Facebook allows you to check in at a destination or share vacation photos in real time. While this need to over share can seem harmless, we are unwittingly telling sinister people that we are not home or maybe that we are home alone. We are slowly losing our ability to determine what information to keep private and what information to share.
Social media is creating a false sense of connection and an atmosphere of friendship. According to Cara Pring, in 2012 Facebook had 845 million monthly active users and there was an average of 750 tweets made per second. We are doing a lot of communicating but are we really saying anything of value. The more “friends or followers” a person has the more popular they may feel. Unfortunately popularity does not equate to friendship. Social media only requires us to have surface relationships and does not require meaningful conversation. True friendship requires investing in a relationship through quality time with open and honest face-to-face communication.
As a society we have come to value frequent communication rather than meaningful conversation. In an article written by Susan per Danko for Forbes magazine, about 7% of communication is based
According to Cara Pring, writer and author of thesocialskinny.com, as of May, 2012, 62% of adults use some form of social media. If you observe any post secondary classroom before instruction begins, you’ll see the majority of students engrossed in some type of social media. We have become more comfortable engaging in the digital world than we are with the people right in front of us. Social media has allowed us to become more connected yet, potentially, more disconnected than ever before.
Social media is creating a generation of “over-sharers”. This need to over share can also create a dangerous environment. We have become very comfortable telling the world things, which in years past, would have been considered private information. Facebook allows you to check in at a destination or share vacation photos in real time. While this need to over share can seem harmless, we are unwittingly telling sinister people that we are not home or maybe that we are home alone. We are slowly losing our ability to determine what information to keep private and what information to share.
Social media is creating a false sense of connection and an atmosphere of friendship. According to Cara Pring, in 2012 Facebook had 845 million monthly active users and there was an average of 750 tweets made per second. We are doing a lot of communicating but are we really saying anything of value. The more “friends or followers” a person has the more popular they may feel. Unfortunately popularity does not equate to friendship. Social media only requires us to have surface relationships and does not require meaningful conversation. True friendship requires investing in a relationship through quality time with open and honest face-to-face communication.
As a society we have come to value frequent communication rather than meaningful conversation. In an article written by Susan per Danko for Forbes magazine, about 7% of communication is based
Cited: Bennett, Shea. "Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram – Social Media Statistics And Facts 2012 [INFOGRAPHIC]." Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram – Social Media Statistics And Facts 2012 [INFOGRAPHIC]. N.p., 01 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-stats-2012_b30651>. Pring, Cara. "99 New Social Media Stats for 2012." Thesocialskinnycom RSS. N.p., 10 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://thesocialskinny.com/99-new-social-media-stats-for-2012/>. Tardanico, Susan. "Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-real-communication/>.