Technology — the Ultimate Communication Killer
Written By: Kaytee Weidenfeld
Computer-mediated communication is negatively transforming American society.
Social media sites and Internet communication is rapidly replacing face-to-face communication due to technology and convenience.
“Computer communication allows you to not be there, it allows you to be doing business elsewhere,” said Paul Metcalf, a University of Georgia graduate of broadcast news and journalism ethics, from Buffalo, New York. “I think the disadvantage of computer communication and social media is that it seems to have zapped our complete society.”
According to the Pro Con website, people who use social networking sites tend to have lower grades in school.
“I was recently talking to my cousin, who is a recent college graduate, and I said something to her about her spelling,” Metcalf said. “She said, spelling doesn’t matter because the computer does it for me. And I was alarmed.”
Metcalf also said he feels computer-mediated communication is negatively affecting grammar skills, due to shorthand text messages. Since people are not looking at the big picture, grammar is being forgotten about.
Social media has linked people to spending less time interacting face to face, according to the Academia website.
Bethany Walker, a Lenoir-Rhyne University nursing major, from Boiling Springs said computer-mediated communication is less personal than interpersonal communication.
“Would you call someone whose mother just died and be like, ‘I’m really sorry, here’s an emoji pat on the back,’” Walker said, as she sarcastically patted the air.
In the south, Walker said, people would bring that person a casserole, give them a hug, and share some sweet tea.
Walker said, those who are more involved in computer-mediated communication than interpersonal communication are going to lack empathy and sympathy skills. She also said, It is great people know how to play Candy Crush, but where is that really going to get people in life?
According to The Capacity to Delineate and Interpret Emotion in Text Messages, a thesis published on Digital Commons through Liberty University’s website, miscommunication through computer-mediated communication is very common.
“Although many perceive text messaging as convenient and affective method of communication, it may have some overlooked drawbacks and limitations,” said Liberty University’s website. “Because text messaging does not contain nonverbal cues that are often essential in interpreting emotion, many text message users may fail to completely communicate their intended feelings and emotion causing miscommunication between sender and receiver.”
Ronald Andronov, a Blue Ridge Community College biblical studies and religion major, from Arden, said 50 percent of all communication resides in body language.
He said, seeing people’s facial expressions, gestures, and hearing that person’s tone of voice helps one to understand that person much better, rather than computer-mediated communication.
Both the Pro Con and Academia websites report that Internet communication causes individuals to become socially isolated and lack every day social skills. They recommend forming genuine social relationships through interpersonal communication.
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"Technology is taking away just as much as it is giving us," she said. "It’s taking away something that’s not worth being taken away just to be advance."
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Bethany Walker often experiences miscommunication from technology and face-to-face communication due to growing up partially deaf.
She said, “With sign language, the first thing you learn is that 50 percent of it is facial expression.”
One can read someone’s facial expression before that person hears what he or she has to say, she said. She also said, one can almost sense how that person feels.
Through a text message, one cannot hear that persons tone of voice, therefore it’s open to interpretation, she said.
Walker said, “It’s almost like there are these waves of emotion passing from one person to another, just by what you grasp from the environment you’re in and how they are reacting.”
Bethany Walker has worked in several nursing homes and always experiences the same technological challenge.
She said, patients always ask why they have to use the phone, rather than seeing their family and loved ones in person.
You cannot experience a hug, kiss or smile over the phone, she said, and unfortunately in America we’re all about ease.
"Technology is taking away just as much as it is giving us," she said. "It’s taking away something that’s not worth being taken away just to be advance."
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