The Age of Isolation

The Age of Isolation

Through the years, people have grown to have an increasing reliance on electronics through almost every aspect in their daily lives. Technology has provided us with an effortless way to communicate, but with its advantages come major drawbacks. Although electronic devices allow for a quick and easy form of communication, they cannot build the trust or confidence that is only formed when engaging in a face-to-face communication. Because electronic communication does not always allow people to show others their true emotions, it hinders the feelings that one person can show to another’s sadness or happiness. This lack of emotion can result in a lack of trust between two people because one person might believe that the other will not be accepting or trustworthy with his or her opinion. If two people are communicating in person, they are able to convey each other’s feelings to one another with ease, confidence, and understanding. Face-to-face communication allows for people to connect with each other on a personal level, to where you can have trust in the other person. Another disadvantage of electronic forms of communication is that online messages can be misinterpreted as something that the speaker had never intended. Again, with the lack of emotion shown in electronic communication, messages can be very misleading as there are no facial cues to help interpret the speaker’s actual meaning of the message.

Cell phones have been a source of extremely effective communication, but its advantages also lead to significant drawbacks. In a recent study, two researchers put two individuals together in a room to discuss a topic. When a cell phone was present in the room, the individuals reported that they had felt less...

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...es, a way to avoid social pressures, and a way to avoid putting in effort, they cannot replace the need for face-to-face communication to completely understand the feelings that the other person has. Cell phones cannot replace the trust and confidence that is formed when two individuals or a family is communicating with each other in person. Interpersonal communication builds relationships that use visual cues as a way of understanding and reading the inner feelings and emotions of others in order to effectively communicate with them. Communicating in person also prompts others to work much harder because they will recognize the effort put in by everyone around them, and will feel obligated to work the same amount as everyone else. The empathy found in face-to-face communication breeds a form of trust and confidence that will form relationships lasting a lifetime.