Lack of Face-to-Face Communication - Assignment Example

Lack of Communication Effective communication is actually the key not only to personal but also to business success. Effective communication has been the goal of human beings for human beings are social animals that must learn social skills in order to survive in the society. It cannot be denied that the social media has changed the business world for the better. Businesses and advertisements have always improved because of social networks. However, social networking has also brought about a lack of natural face-to-face communication among its users. Social networking has become one of the most popular and one of the most important means of communication in the modern age. The social media is used in business and communication because it helps to make faster communication and exchange of information. Social networking can also make work effective because it can ensure that all team members can receive the information. Moreover, it can promote advertising and product evaluation by setting up blogs and Facebook pages online and by allowing users of a particular product to publish their testimonies online (Coyle and Vaughn 17). Social networking can also help in our personal relationships because it can help people keep in touch with old friends and maintain family solidarity (Coyle and Vaughn 17). The idea of having an account in the social media network is actually one way of socially interacting with friends and family. This is really good by itself because it enhances family relationships. Social networking has the purpose of helping humans keep in touch with their friends and to maintain friendships as well as for retaining contact when there are issues with time and distance. These are the purposes of social networking sites, and not necessarily to meet new people (Coyle and Vaughn 15). However, since social networks broke the barriers of time and since nowadays people consume more time using Facebook than meeting other people in person, then there has been a lack of communication. Lack of communication affects many various aspects of human life for without face-to-face communication, people cannot learn social skills. The social media has the potential to make people less social and dependent on the Internet and electronic media in many ways. Lack of communication actually means lack of face-to-face communication, which is essential to all human relationships. One problem with social networking is that nowadays, people are attempting to forge relationships and make decisions using smileys and emoticons on computers, laptops and even on gadgets. The problem is that people are starting to lose their identity and social values because they are interacting with so many people at the same time whenever they go online. They then adopt the values of these people that they constantly interact with. Thus, the result is the adoption of wrong and corrupt values as well as bad examples. This is the reason why sometimes we have people who grow up to become evil despite the good advice from their parents. They have been brainwashed by the social media and by the people they interact with everyday. Thus, their identity is dissolved in their numerous relations. When one loses his identity, he loses his individual self and he loses confidence. He then identifies himself with the bad people around him, and he becomes like them. Moreover, if he loses confidence, then he has nothing to share with others because confidence is very important in a person’s mental and emotional development. The social media usually teaches violence and instills evil through the various negative exchanges of thoughts shared in blogs or in social media networks. These thoughts are usually expressed in various forms like auditory, visual or written forms. This gradually changes people into something evil. Moreover, those who always use the social media in their communication also start to lose face-to-face contact and become less confident and less sociable in their lives. It is good to interact with families and friends once in a while because it dispels boredom and loneliness and helps to develop better family relations, but to spend whole days and nights interacting with people and with just about anyone on social media is just simply emotionally unhealthy. The biggest proof of this is my own experience in life. In fact, until now I still do not have enough confidence in communicating with others face to face. Perhaps, I have become used to social networks where I can hide my own face and where I do not have to talk. Obviously, I feel disappointed sometimes because all I have is the skills in connecting with someone online and chatting with them over social networks. I do not have the skills for face-to-face communication with people, and I still cannot deliver a message to someone because I do not have enough confidence. I have never acquired these skills because I have used the social network for quite a long time. I have first-hand experience of how the social network affected me, and if I do not control this, it will affect me in my future career. It might also even affect me in my future relationships with people because I will not be able to develop the confidence to meet up with them and get to know them. Despite its numerous benefits, social networking has also made people become lazy, overweight and less productive at school and in the workplace. In short, the social media has actually become an anti-social element. Therefore, people should consume less time in social networking in order to save time and to have more quality time for more important things. Social media has somehow also negatively affected my relations with the members of my family. I myself experienced something very difficult with regards to social networking. My father would sometimes get annoyed or mad because we would usually use our cell phones and laptops every time the family talked. This is the reason why we barely talk to each other. We barely communicate because my siblings and I are so busy using our gadgets in order to interact with our friends. This is the reason why my father decided to gather all the gadgets first before we would go into the living room so that everyone could pay attention and so that we could all sit and talk with each other without any distractions. The social media has also become a source of harm for children. In fact, children and young people can easily change their ages and thus illegally sign up for a fake Facebook account. Thus, parents have a very important role to serve especially in regulating the TV and the Internet usage too (“A battle over kids on social networking”). In fact, these preteens spend excess of time on social networking media, or Facebook (Brown 17). Another concern aside from panel is the addiction to the habit of excessive Facebook use is the fact that children 7-10 years old can already use search websites and search for information (Enghel et al.). This means that the social media and the Internet itself can become a dangerous place because children may use it as an avenue for acquiring dangerously harmful information (Enghel et al.). Another problem is that many people spend too much time using the Internet to communicate with almost anyone including strangers. It is obvious that the use of the Internet in communication has already overtaken face-to-face and voice-to-voice communication by a big difference. In fact, business communication is now done through email, text, instant messaging, intranets, websites and blogs. The problem is that because of this, people have somehow stopped considering the nuances of their writing. Instead, they simply trust the electronic means of communication. Trusting the Internet and the social media more than the traditional ways of communication will surely expose one to the growing materialism, hedonism and narcissism of the times. Moreover, he will also be exposed to vices, recreational drugs and pleasures, overpopulation, forms of population control, and many other bad things (Paul 407). These will most likely destroy the lives of many people. Moreover, youths with negative character and live in negative circumstances will find that their problems are made bigger by social networking as they are constantly exposed to more problems, and that social networking may not be able to help them (Mikame et al. 33). However, despite the negative side of social media and the lack of communication that it brings, it has numerous benefits. One benefit that it has is the fact that social networking can actually help enhance and develop relationships and maintain them (Coyle and Vaughn 17). However, one should realize that despite the good things that social media and social networking bring, getting addicted to them will definitely produce bad results. If it is communication with the family from abroad, it is fine. However, communication with family members abroad through Facebook, cell phone or Skype should not sacrifice face-to-face communication with people, friends and family near because I believe families need face-to-face communication. The social media is used only for special purposes. If the family or friend is far, then we can use the social media but if he or she is near, then I believe face-to-face communication is better and more effective. Moreover, the social media can actually maintain good relationships and communication in the office or in the company (Coyle and Vaughn 17).It is definitely true, but since social media sites are actually more formal in nature, then it is perfectly fine to use the social media only for business communication. In fact, it is even highly recommended for businesses. The problem is that if one deals with friends and family, then face-to-face communication is the best and not the same social media network used for business. Within the family and among friends, the most important thing is to speak to each other and to hear one’s voice and laughter. These are the things that make us like each other. We should not give these up just for the sake of social media. People should definitely take advantage of the benefits of the social media when it comes to business communication. However, people should be aware that they should try not to neglect important relationships in their personal and professional lives. People should use social networking and understand its use but should try to respect its other uses in showing respect to the more important aspects of life such as personal relationships. One should therefore not sacrifice personal relationships and the value of confidence and face-to-face communication. These are very important aspects of human life, and so the social media and social networking should not replace this. Social media and social networking can always be used with friends and families who are far abroad, but it should not be used much with family and friends who live in our midst. Works Cited “A battle over kids on social networking sites." Face Time Current Events 109.12 (2009). Web Brown, StephenHemeHemBrown, . "Social Media: Friend or Foe?" Momentum 49 (Nov/Dec 2011): 16-18. Web. Coyle, Cheryl L. & Heather VaughnHemeHemPaul. "Social Networking: Communication Revolution or Evolution?" Bell Labs Technical Journal 13.2 (2008). Web. Enghel, Florencia & Karin WilkinsHemeHemEng. "Trends in media and communication studies: Toddlers, media consumption, ad development communication." International Sociology 29.2 (2014): 81-88. Web. Mikami, Amori Yee, David E. Szwedo, Joseph P. Allen, Meredyth A. Evans, & Amanda L. HareHemeHemMikami. "Adolescent Peer Relationships and Behavior Problems Predict Young Adults’ Communication on Scial Networking Websites." Developmental Psychology 46.1 (2010): 46-56. Web. Paul, Peter VHemeHemPaul. "The Digital Generation: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." American Annals of the Deaf 157.5 (2013). Web. Read More