The Pros And Cons Of Digital Communication

Digital communication has evolved in such a rapid time. Some say that it is bad, others say it is good, and other say it can be good and bad. In Gerald Graff’s and Cathy Birkenstein’s book, They Say/I say, they have a chapter that talks about digital communication. They talk about the pros and cons on it as well. Digital communication is destroying young user’s ability to communicate but it also is helping spread viral memes quickly, and bringing people together. Digital communication is impairing young users from having real life conversations. For example, in the article “Teens Have A Smart Reason For Abandoning Facebook And Twitter,” the author, Felicity Duncan, reports “If college students spend most of their media time on group text and

Although I agree with Duncan up to a point, I can’t accept her riding assumption that there is less chances for new ideas to come into college student’s social media. Many people assume it takes one friend to share a new idea they come across to another friend that probably isn’t on Facebook or twitter. There’s still hope for new ideas to come across their social media, but the chances of it being seen or shared aren’t very high. On the other hand, Graff and Birkenstein contends digital communication is destroying young user’s ability to communicate. They claim, “[S]ome praise the web for its ability to bring people from distant places together who otherwise would remain strangers, enabling them to interact more easily with others through such mediums as email, blogs, videochat, and social networking sites” (169). In other words, people go online to talk to people that don’t leave near by them; otherwise, those people would still be strangers. Being connected online

For example, in Saleem Kassim views, “As a result of the many technological advancements and innovations that have revolutionized how individuals communicate, an abundance of information has become available to everyone.” Saleem Kassim’s point is that anyone and everybody can put out information that can be seen by everyone when you are an internet user. For example, the news can tell you that there’s nothing happening in a certain country; whereas, someone from that country can post on twitter and upload videos showing anyone that decides to see the truth of what is really happening in their country. Kassim also states, “Ultimately, public information supplied by social networking websites has played an important role during modern-day activism, specifically as it pertains to the Arab Spring.” In other words, Kassim believes that digital communication has brought people together to fight for something that is a good cause. To have people aware of the truth and to have someone do something about it. Indeed it is highly likely that we bring people together for a good cause but digital communication can also cause a downside through having no censorship on what you post. When more people are brought up of current events trending they decide to hope on board to see if there is anything they can do to help. Not to mention, Graff and Birkenstein view it the same way. Like I mentioned earlier, Graff and