Nowadays the way many people interact with each other has changed radically because of technology. It really has an influence on communication between people and affects their relationships in various ways, so there are both some positive and negative effects.
Firstly, in a social network there are limitless possibilities for communication. People who initially may be thousands of miles apart can become friends or even family later. The network allows to find friends, family or just peers with common interests.
Secondly, everyone has the opportunity to express his point of view, to find like-minded people, to talk on any topic, to share experiences, to teach others, share his photos and videos or just comment on the photos and videos of other people. Thus, communication via the Internet allows a person to be who he would like to be, to increase his self-importance and self-esteem or simply compensate for the lack of friends.
However, development of the Internet led to the formation of a new generation, which perceive virtual reality as a real world. This leads to changes of already established archetypes and forms of social interaction in the society.
Social media has become widely recognised as a powerful tool for influence on young generation. Such valuable institutions of socialization as family, school and peers put on the backburner. Illusory, virtual world is becoming more attractive to young people. It not only provides an opportunity to talk about their feelings, experiences, but also provides access to the personal information of others. (Cain) Running away from the real problems with the help of the Internet, young people are not aware of it, begin to perceive the virtual world as a part of the real.
Each person has explicit and implicit needs that he seeks to satisfy, it may be the need for communication or self-realization, and social network gives a sense of satisfaction of these needs. However, it provides people escape from reality, the substitution of the real to the virtual communication, which gives a feeling of satisfaction. The more person gets through social communication network the more he wants, but the need for all remains unsatisfied, and it becomes hard to live a real life. The inexplicable desire to use network resources is a kind of disease that may occur due to any personal or psychological problems because of unfulfilled dreams, hidden complexes and difficulties in communication, because in the virtual world it is much easier to express yourself and create the perfect image. People with low self-esteem are more susceptible to Internet addiction. Man creates the image that he wants to match and gives information on the page for real. Some users, recognizing differences with the established character, begin to avoid personal meetings with the new virtual friends. Psychotherapist Owen Redahan claims that new forms of communication can really influence on our relationships, cause anxiety and poor self esteem (Redahan). The awareness of own security and anonymity is also of particular importance since it is not in live communication.
Another depressing trend is that modern man displaces real communication with virtual, losing the ability to maintain a conversation during communicating face-to-face. He seems to be hiding behind his virtual image. With this image in social networks, it will be difficult to communicate and meet new people in real life. In “Impact of social media on society” Raymond Tay says that online personality of a person might be completely different from his real character, that causes serious problems (Tay). Nowadays psychologists have a doubt if we are able to communicate? Communication in virtual mode implies non-compliance of grammar rules and punctuation, compiling the most simple sentences, the use of extremely poor vocabulary, replacing emotions with emoticons - all this has a negative impact on the real communication.
The most popular social networks are those through which young people try to express themselves and to create their own virtual ego. There teenagers talk about their achievements and talents, hoping to get public recognition and compensate for the lack of communication. Social networking has become a shelter for people of different social class, age, sex, and religion. People are drawn into unnecessary and potentially harmful process of competition, where in fact complete immorality is encouraged. In addition, the social networks form the false idea that love and friendship are as easy to win as to destroy it. It is a world where events occur rapidly, where everything is constantly changing, where you can get rid of a loved one by pressing the mouse button, where you can delete your profile, if you do not like it. For people who are used to the rapid flow of internet life, the reality may seem boring, and they may try to "revive" it by making impulsive actions, including suicide attempts, because they tend to underestimate the value of real life.
Summing up, it should be noted that people can develop their live communication skills only in real life, but social networks and active virtual life put a person in a situation where these skills are not used, and as a result, atrophy. Thanks to the Internet problems of socialization, inability to communicate with other people and the lack of real friends do not disappear, but simply become less visible.
Works Cited
- Cain, Kevin. "The Negative Effects of Facebook on Communication." Social Media Today RSS N.p., 29 June 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
- Tay, Raymond "Impact of Social Media on Society." Impact of Social Media on Society. 14 Nov. 2010 EzineArticles.com. 12 Dec. 2014 <http://ezinearticles.com/?Impact-of-Social-Media-on-Society&id=5378885>.
- Redahan, Owen. "How Is Social Media Affecting Your Life?" - Counselling Directory. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
