Essay On Face To Face Communication

1169 Words3 Pages

The advent of technology is perhaps the most important in the history of the world, given that it has transformed the manner in which people interact. Technology can be defined as the collection of skills, techniques, methods along with processes that are used to produce goods and services, or in the fulfillment of products and services. Some of the most common technologies that the contemporary world humans use include the Internet and mobile devices. A Study conducted by Andrews et al (2015), has found that the average person spends about 5 hours a day on their cell phone.
Graph 1: Number of hours per day that people are spending on phone, social media, and face-to-face communication Source: Andrews et al. (2015), Zilberstein (2015)
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Hence, it might be perceived that cell phones have improved the communication between people. As such, people separated by geographic regions no longer need to communicate using crude methods such as smoke and human messengers. Nonetheless, as Neves (2013) revealed, the past communication methods promoted the prevalence of face-to-face communication, which, in turn, assisted in creating a better social cohesion. In addition, if a need arose, people would travel long distances to have physical contact with others. Unfortunately, such an outcome is no longer a priority. As a result of cell phones, people are downplaying the need for physical contact or interaction. Thus, they prefer making calls to communicate or solve a particular problem. Indeed, as Zilberstein (2015) revealed, people are even solving a breakdown in their relationships through cell phone calls. However, the problem is that when talking on cell phones, a social connection is not created. Zilberstein (2015) claimed that for individuals to understand each other, it means that every element of interpersonal communication, which includes touch, eye contact, feedback, and gesture among others have to be present. Cell phone communication only promotes feedback, which means that the subsequent bond created is weak and …show more content…

As such, they purport that communication technologies in the contemporary times have improved to such an extent that they resemble a face-to-face setting (Zilberstein, 2015). These people mostly cite the case of video conferencing. Hence, with good internet connection and the necessary telecommunication devices, people are communicating in real-time (Neves, 2013). The ability to see the other person, according to these commentators, is usually enough to create emotions, which, in turn, perpetuate effective social ties. In addition, these commentators have argued that, in a face-to-face communication process, the main aim is usually to spark sentiment towards another person or other people (Zilberstein, 2015). In this light, these commentators affirm the importance of technology in sustaining social bonds especially for people who are isolated by

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