How does social media impact interpersonal communication?

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Introduction

Social media has impacted various facets of modern life and it has a profound influence in interpersonal communication. The present-day is characterized by an acute lack of time for individuals and families due to the need for family members to be employed for meeting the needs of a satisfactory lifestyle. Time has become the most precious resource, and people are finding means of saving time because of their fast-paced lifestyle. People need interaction to fulfill their social needs and social media has become a preferred medium for communication with the proliferation of digital and mobile technologies. Digitalization has reduced the face to face interaction of human beings whether it is for marketing or promoting a product or personal communication. The mobile phone has created a social situation whereby people are getting used to avoidance of person to person communication by switching over to mobile. The present-day lifestyles and lack of time have made the usage of mobiles and other communication aids more useful for social contact.

Negative effects

Youngsters seem to prefer isolation and they seem to be in their own imaginary world rather than real-life friends and interaction with neighbors and elders in the family. Lack of respect towards elders in the family and friends circle is a development that needs to be taken with caution. But progress cannot be stopped. It has to stand the test of time. Information overload and lack of privacy are two major issues in social media. There is no control over the information that you will get through social media for example through what’s App. Getting more information before people are ready to receive and process the same for useful consumption makes them confused. The continuous bombarding of messages through handheld devices leaves no time for reflection and analysis and leads to some kind of addiction and resignation to the situation. This leads progressively to avoidance of face to face communication. There is difficulty in separating virtual reality from reality and loss of privacy. Since massive information is spread through social media, there is no room for privacy – everybody knows everything about the other person.

Time Consuming

Social media wastes a lot of our time once we use it. You just keep on scrolling or keep on surfing and after some time you realize that you have spent hours. This not only affects our mental health but also our physical health. You will not realize and with the passage of time, you will lose yourself. Your motivation will be zero and you will have nothing to strive for.

Health issues

Too much use of social media will damage your health. You will lose your eyesight with the passage of time. You will start feeling pain in your backbone and you will be having issues in terms of migraine which will last with you forever. There are also some vulgar things on social of which people would get addicted to and in the process, they will lose focus towards their life and studies.

No interaction with family

Family is like a circle in which all persons are connected. The circle will start to deteriorate once the interaction between families minimizes. Social media is the main problem in destroying this family culture. Family members will stay busy on social media and they will interact less with each other. They will not be in the knowledge of each other problems and they will be unknown to each other living under one roof.

Positive effects

Social networks have removed all the communication and interaction barriers, and now one can communicate his/her perception and thoughts over a variety of topics. Students and experts are able to share and communicate with like-minded people and can ask for input and opinion on a particular topic. Another positive impact of social networking sites is to unite people on a huge platform for the achievement of some specific objective. This is very important to bring positive change in society.

The negativity surrounding social media is countered by positive influences, including the ability to communicate with more people across greater distances and with increased speed. Messages can be shared and spread farther and faster than at any other time in human history and a lot of good can be done by spreading positive messages in this way. As communication and information travel faster and faster, the world seems to get smaller and smaller. As a result, this changes how the world communicates, especially with today’s obsession with social media networks. Before social media, we were extremely limited in our means to interact with others and we were limited largely to the people that we knew in-person. There were things we (those my age and older) had to deal with that millennials do not have to, your significant other’s parent answering the phone when you called, waiting for a letter in the mail, waiting a week to get your pictures that you sent off to be developed, and so on. The internet and social media have drastically changed the way people all over the world,  interact and communicate. One of the biggest positive changes in the way that we interact, due to social media networks, is the sheer number of people that we can interact with. Because of social media networks, we are now able to interact with thousands of people all over the world – this is why we see people who have thousands of Facebook friends or tens of thousands of Twitter followers. Without social media, that would be impossible. Social media networks allow us the opportunity to share opinions with a far wider audience. Another big change that has occurred is that there is now no filter on the way we speak. In the past, unless you spoke to people directly, you had no way to get your message across regardless of your freedom of speech.  Now we can use social media to get our messages out to thousands or even millions of people uncensored.

What can we do to improve interpersonal communication?

Interpersonal Communication skills are what a person utilizes to effectively communicate, interact, and collaborate with other individuals or groups in a face-to-face setting. They are also known as “people skills.”

There are two types of communication skills.

Active listening

Actively listening to someone is when you give your complete attention to what he or she is saying rather than merely focusing on their words. It involves listening with all of your senses, and allowing the speaker to see that you are listening by showing interest through both verbal and non-verbal messages. This may include maintaining eye contact, nodding, or agreeing and encouraging them to continue talking. By receiving this feedback, the speaker will typically feel more at ease and be able to communicate more easily and honestly.

Body Language

In communication, body language involves the use of tone of your voice and your gestures, gaze, and different postures to convey your intended idea to the person you’re communicating with.

You have undoubtedly heard the phrase “actions speak louder than words.” This is why there is often so much miscommunication in text message conversations. Without being able to see a person's physical gestures or hear their tone of voice, a listener is left to decipher the meaning behind words or phrases that could be taken a number of ways.

These skills can be learned and improved upon.

Tips

1. Put your phone away.

Smartphones have changed the way people engage and interact with each other. With the increase in smartphone usage, there has been a decrease in eye contact, attention spans, human interaction, and personal relationships.

Put your phone away before the beginning of any meeting or conversation. This signals to others that you are giving them your full, undivided attention, and that you respect them and their time.

2. Maintain eye contact. Yes, it can be difficult to truly look someone in the eyes, but it is an essential part of having meaningful conversations. Maintaining eye contact makes the person you’re speaking with feel validated and understood.

3. Let the person speak uninterrupted.

In most instances, do not interrupt others while they are talking. It’s your time to be quiet. Focus on what the person is saying, and try to truly understand the message they’re trying to convey.

Interrupting someone while they are talking not only demonstrates a lack of listening skills, it also suggests to the other person that you don’t value what they're saying.

4. Be truthful.

Always be honest in your interactions with others. This strengthens your relationships and establishes your integrity. Even telling a small lie can put you at risk of being labeled a liar, which could damage your reputation and reduce the tendency for others to trust you.

5. Be aware of your gestures and posture.

Interpersonal communication isn't just about what is said, it also involves how it is said, and the non-verbal messages that are communicated through one's gestures and body language.

Conclusion

We must remember that social media is really only a decade old. That’s very young in the history of communication technology, it has been influential, but it hasn’t really settled into a routine yet. As social media becomes more normalized, we’ll stop seeing it as changing things and start seeing it as the way things are. As a society we’ll be OK—we’ve always adjusted to new technology. So whether it’s wearable communication media, such as Google glasses, or more cloud computing, we’ll change and adapt. Communication is constantly evolving. Some people are as used to seeing their friends’ online avatar as they are their face. People increasingly prefer quick and frequent engagement with instant updates on news than a prolonged chat and are also finding new ways to catch up with friends from the comfort of their sofa.

At the end of the day, nothing can replace face-to-face conversation and interactions. Despite the explosion of online endorsements and social media dialogue between individuals and brands, researchers have found word-of-mouth exchanges and in-depth conversations are still the most influential.

Literature

https://www.developgoodhabits.com/interpersonal-communication-skills/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319422885_Influence_of_Social_Media_in_Interpersonal_Communication

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/improving-communication.html