A big problem in today’s society is the lack of intimate, face-to-face relationships. By this, I mean relationships that aren’t maintained the majority of the time behind the screen of a phone or tablet. Genuine conversations that aren’t happening through text messages tend to get awkward fast, and end even faster nowadays. This is a depressing truth. As texting has become more prevalent, interpersonal communication has plummeted—leaving a broken and damaged social economy in need of repair. Texting does have it upsides, however. It is faster, convenient, and it’s much easier to meet new people, and create new friendships that can be maintained through electronic conversation. Although, those perks will never be able to replace the warmth and comfort that a well-functioning, face-to-face relationship offers.
This texting age has brought on the downfall of genuine communication. The majority of people don’t really know the meaning of a “real” relationship anymore. A long time ago, sitting down and talking with another person for hours on end was normal. Now, however, it’s a foreign, scary thing. We seem to find it easier to hide behind our phones. The same things can be said over text that would be said in a vocal conversation, but there is something absent. As many have figured out—it is substance. According to Dr. Grohol, transmitting words through a device to another device does not leave room for feelings, emotions, body language, and voice inflection (Maintaining Healthy Relationships in College). Body language is a huge part of communication, but we can’t use it as a valid tool anymore because we rarely talk face to face. In fact, as stated by Patricia Harmon in “Does Texting Affect Emotional Intelligence?” up to 93% of comm...
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...to worry about. Setting a goal to change this is only the first step, but it is a start. Many generations talk about how awful it is that our world has been consumed by electronics, but they don’t actually ever act upon their words. Once our nation, and others across the world realize what they are missing, and the mistakes they may have made, the movement to jumpstart legitimate interpersonal communication will begin in earnest. The recovery and recuperation period, so to speak, will be long and strenuous; but it will be worth it in the end when our need to be whole again—as a society—is fulfilled.
Works Cited
Harmon, Patricia. "Does Texting Affect Emotional Intelligence?”. Academic Search Elite. 2013. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
Quinn-Szcesuil, Julia. "Maintaining Healthy Relationships in College”. Collegexpress Magazine, Academic Search Elite, 2013. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
Physically communicating and connecting with a person will never compare to texting or any social media. There comes a time where as human beings we need someone physically here with us whether we need advice, support, or just someone to express our feelings to. In Ashton Kutcher’s article “Has Texting Killed Romance?” Kutcher discusses how romance has changed because of technology updates and how it has hindered relationships.
In Ashton Kutcher’s internet era, he asked a simple question are we losing our ability to really communicate. To be honest, texting is slowing killing romance. Ashton Kutcher was trying to say that texting could show sham emotions to the person it was sent to. When you get in a relationship what would you rather want would you rather want someone to text you and tell you that they miss you or would you rather have someone come all the way up to come see you and tell you face to face that they miss you See texting does kill romance that would be so romantic if someone did that for you. Also, texting sometimes makes the human body lazy. When texting became popular you have only seen a couple of people being so romantic
Texting however keeps people at arm’s length and prevents relationships from getting past a certain level of rapport. Text messages help people create distance between them and another person. This distance can lead to many things, like lost friendship. Friendships can be lost in text messages because of tone. I was texting my sister one day, who types in all capital letters, and finally halfway through the conversation I asked her why she was yelling at me, because that is how I was reading them, as me being yelled at. When she responded she was very confused, and told me that she didn’t realize that she had been yelling at me and was sorry. This can happen to anybody. People can confuse tone in text messages, and that can lead to one person arguing with someone who has no idea that they are in a fight. Text messages are also used by people to purposely keep others away from them, and by some it is used to hide. Alice G Walton, a science journalist with a Ph.D. in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience says, “People like to text because the message gives them the ability to hide,” (Walton). It is like the saying “a drunken mind speaks a sober heart,” When people are drunk they hide behind being it, and use alcohol as their mask, but when they are texting, it’s the phone. They are able to say what they would like, without having to actually face the person they are talking to, and
People in general tend to be disinhibited in text communication because they cannot see each other, they can send a message then ‘run away,’ and they might start to experience the message as an extension of their own intra-psychic space, where they feel free to think anything…. (p.
In our world there are many forms of communication and these devices are beginning to take a toll on our younger generations. In Jeffery Kluger’s article,” We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging,” the idea that younger generations are becoming socially inept due to technology is discussed. As these younger generations consume texting as a main form of communication other important social skills deteriate.
Texting is a quick way to avoid long drawn out conversations with a parent or family member. Calling others can be a hassle or seem awkward depending on who you’re dealing with. A technology analyst at Creative Strategies, Ben Bajarin, explains how the use of social interaction enhances communication (Zaslow). Although I agree with Bajarin up to a point, I can not agree with his overall conclusion that social interactions can lead to concrete bonds and forms of communication. Texting is a way to hide behind a screen and talk to others as they do the same. There are no real interactions occurring as one type. While texting is a way to express one 's feelings, it in no way expresses real social skills that one needs to thrive in society. In very few jobs can one go through the day and not interact with his or her coworkers or boss; so how does growing up texting all one’s thoughts prepare for the real world? It
Times have changed. Things are done differently these days, including in romantic relationships. Instead of getting a love letter, boyfriends or girlfriends get love texts. Texting can be beneficial for making small plans, but it tends to decrease the intimacy for the couple. It can create issues that may or may not be resolved, but would have been less likely to be created had it not been for texting. Texting can lead to silly misunderstandings, make the partners feel like they always need to be in contact with each other, create a tendency to resolve problems and express feelings without being face-to-face, and make them wonder if they really have their partner’s attention or not.
Just like Hertlein and Bulmer, Luo and Tuney have researched and came up with a positive conclusion online conversing embrace and enhance relationships. They observed college student, how the college students communicate with each other. Luo and Tunney’s collaborated result was “sending a positive text to the partner everyday had a significant positive effect on relationship satisfaction” (49). This result that they found through their observation on college student supported their hypothesis, which was do texting helps romantic relationships. They provide tips to promote positive and productive communication and to evade flawed communications in relationships. Their studies were designed to find “to use positive texting to enhance college students’ relationship satisfaction” and Luo and Tunney succeeded in their studies through how good texting improve good relationship by observing college
People have the fundamental desire to maintain strong connections with others. Through logic and reasoning, Sherry states, “But what do we have, now that we have what we say we want, now that we have what technology makes easy?”(Turkle). Face to face conversations are now mundane because of the accessibility to interact at our fingertips, at free will through text, phone calls and social media. Belonging, the very essence of a relationship has now become trivial.
There was a time when people communicated mainly through writing letters, talking on the phone, or speaking personally to others. Our communication capabilities and the dynamic of our social world has changed drastically with the introduction of electronics – especially cellular smartphones. In today’s world, hand-held cellular phones have transformed the way people communicate. While these devices have made us much more productive and efficient, they are causing our society to lose the important life skill of interpersonal communication. People can be seen everywhere fixating on their phones instead of interacting with others. Many are mesmerized by what they can do on their phones and are often seen using them while walking down the street, sitting at a restaurant during dinner, and even while driving. I believe cell phones are negatively impacting our society because they are harming our interpersonal skills, consuming our lives, and creating an imminent danger.
How often do we text? Text messaging is a very useful way to communicate; but, there are occasions where texting is unnecessary, for example in meetings, watching movies, interacting with family, and even in the shower. However, while texting can be overused, it can also help us get to know one another in easier and faster ways. In Natalie Y. Moore’s article “The Rule of Thumbs: Love in the Age of Texting," she explains how the use of texting it is slowly destroying the love between two people (Moore, 1). Although, some people might agree with Moore points of view, when she argues that texting is killing romance and it should be reserved for some notifications, such as “I’m running late;” others might disagree with this idea
The Web. 14 Feb, 2014. Glaser, Mark. A. “How Cell Phones are Killing Face-to-Face Interactions.” Pbs. 22 Oct, 2007.
Old fashioned phone conversations are more sincere. They allow people to talk on a personal level, even though they may not be physically next to each other. Phone conversations allow people to have a closer look to your inner personality and a sense of understanding is developed. Yet, if phone calls grow sincere conversations, then why do people prefer texting instead of phone calls? "The more ri...
Over the last century, information technology, such as the Internet, has brought our society forward and helps us get through life more efficiently and conveniently. In addition, it helps making global communication easier and faster as compared to hand-written mails that may take days if not weeks to reach its intended recipient. However, with such luxury and convenience, there is a debate whether the way we currently interact with fellow human beings with the help of technology is good or bad to our personal relationships. The Internet has increased the amount of communication globally, yet ironically the very technology that helps us increase our communication hinders our ability to socialize effectively in real life and create a healthy interpersonal relationship.
Talking on the phone requires an immediate response, as opposed to texting. To others, talking with someone is connecting with them on a personal level. For example, when talking to my mother or grandmother I prefer calling them. I don’t see them every day and it always feels so good to hear their voices, which it also allows me to hear and feel their emotions. Texting on the other hand makes it hard to capture their emotions. To me, texting is not as personal; there are no other factors involved on the conversation than what you see on the screen, the text. There is no easy way to feel, or identify the other person’s emotions in a text message clearly; therefore, texting can be a misused form of communication if your objective is to spend hours on the phone to express your