Social media: a scourge on relationships as they have been known for centuries. These relatively new technologies have negatively affected friendships by preventing effective face-to-face communication, easily causing misunderstandings and removing individuals from the people they interact with. Thus, in-person communication is important because it helps with understanding other people in conversation, allows for improved articulation and gives people better understanding of displayed emotions.
Texting and using other social media communication platforms, specifically Snapchat, make it difficult to comprehend the other person’s emotions when typing their words. If you text “ shut up,” for example, it can be interpreted in different ways, from somebody actually telling you to shut up to meaning it in a joking way. When using technology to communicate, it becomes impossible to know what the other person is feeling on the other side of the phone and that’s something to note when you communicate on text or social media. You never know what the other person is really feeling.
The effect social media has on people is alarming, especially when everybody uses it. It seems that all people do these days is text people or answer their Snapchats. Why can people just talk face to face? I’m not saying we need to completely eliminate social media. I’m saying that we shouldn’t rely on social media or texting to communicate with others, especially when in-person communication is possible.
In conclusion, social media shouldn’t be the only way to communicate with others. It is often necessary and beneficial to talk to people around you.