Human Contact Research Paper

People rely on technology to survive in today’s society. People feel like they have to always be on their phones to be accepted, but they are missing life as it passes right in front of them. For example, I tend to get annoyed when I try to have conversations with my little sister and she sits on her phone not talking or paying attention. I have to take her phone to get her to look me in the eye and talk about things. People in today’s society lack socializing skills and that is all thanks to technology.

Technology has been a large part of American culture for the last 200 years and continues to grow more each year. This has made a large impact on our everyday lives and how we interact with one another. The U.S. alone sends over 6 billion texts each day! (Textrequest). This takes away quality time engaging with friends and family. Phones and other devices have taken over our way of communicating, thus affecting our relationships with others.

In the article “The Flight from Conversation,” Sherry Turkle makes a point that technology has changed people in their ways of interacting with each other. She states that people have lost the skills for interacting face to face because they prefer to text or email each other. In the text, the author spent over fifteen years studying people and asking them about their lives. She also found that cellphones have changed what people do and who they are. People are accustomed to technology, it is a new way of being “alone together.” This means that people could be sitting at a table together, but not having a real conversation because they are too focused on their mobile devices.

Cell phones and technology are wonderful tools for us to communicate and to grow as society but even though there are many benefits of using cell phones in the various social environments, there is also the greater disadvantage of the usage of the devices. The effects of being rude to one another, “light” unimportant conversations, and weak relationships between peers or family members. In today's world people are way too connected electronically and disconnected emotionally. As there is a lot of controversy to if cell phones are running society's social lives or not, research has shown that they are in fact hurting and affecting how people are interacting and communicating with one another. Between the lack of empathy and the lack of face to face conversations, cellular devices “smart phones” are the major reasons society is seeing a negative effect in people’s social life

Every individual is in constant exposure to all sorts of different types of technology. This continuous display then creates a major decline in all social interaction. People are content with their lives and remain unaware of what’s really going on in the world around them. In modern day society this can also be seen. With technology becoming more and more part of people’s daily lives, it has become more evident that we are drifting apart from each other. Communication is now being done through the use of social media instead of talking face to face. All through the day the average person is using such devices as phones, computers, and TVs during their free time and also when working. Activities such as writing letters along with the use of things like newspapers are slowly being replaced with the use of newer technology. Even books are starting to be a way of the past just like in the

First of all, technology hinders the way people talk with each other. Technology gets in the way of person to person interaction.

Technology abolishes human interaction with one another. Human interaction becomes less frequent as technology advances. Many people have access to technology. For instance, walk into a diner, or a fast food restaurant, and then discover a group of people at a table all on their electronic devices. People need to be more aware of how technology is affecting the relationships among people. People are going to lose their friendships because they failed to separate their cyber life from their social life.Melissa Nilles describes her experience as a nightmare that was actually reality. In the “nightmare,” she lost many opportunities because of being attached to her cellular device.

“…are symptoms of how technology captures our attention and disrupts our connections” (Goleman 5). The more people are on their phones, the smaller the opportunity is to look someone in the eyes and have a human moment—to talk, to share, to comfort. Living in Seattle, I’ve used public transportation plenty of times and in all those times, I’ve noticed no one is looking at one another or outside—everyone is glued to their own phones. Go into a crowded room full of people—regardless of age—and the majority will be on their phones instead of communicating with one another. “You know it’s not right to check your phone when you’re with someone, but it’s addictive” (Goleman 8). While some may see nothing wrong in constantly checking your phone, the majority recognize it is an issue, but decide to overlook it. The ability people have in quickly overlooking a major issue, despite age or gender, proves the level of addiction towards our technological

When people are too into their phones they forget about the people that are actually around them. In “The Pedestrian” Mr. Mead explains a futuristic world where people do not go outside or do much of anything that does not involve a screen. The story makes the statement, “... deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference; he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone.” This shows that by being too “plugged-in” people lose touch with what being human really means. Even though most people use technology as a way to stay in touch with people who they normally would not talk to in real life the conversation lacks what an in person conversation would contain. Some of these are the empathy that is not all the way there when sent through technology also, context is shortened and not as in depth than if it was in person. Right before Sherry Turkle’s TED talk in 2012 she got a typical text from her daughter saying “Mom, you will rock.” Sherry explained that getting this text was “like getting a hug” but even though this was a good message in her eyes people should acknowledge that no matter how much a text could touch someone being there in person to deliver the message yourself will always be better. These are the reasons humans should watch how much time is spent on technology instead of time with the people around

“Little by little, Internet and mobile technology seems to be subtly destroying the meaningfulness of interactions we have with others, disconnecting us from the world around us, and leading to an imminent sense of isolation in today’s society.” (Melissa Nilles “Technology is Destroying the Quality of Human Interaction”) Because of technology, the interactions with other people have no meaning, and that we are no longer in touch with the world that we live in. Since technology makes it easier to connect and converse with friends, family, etc. it gives people the opportunity to avoid face to face interaction at all, which leads to isolation and loneliness. This is because as human beings, physical touch is something that we

You walked into the hiring manager's office for your interview, practically radiating confidence. You knew you'd get the job before the questions had even started; the hiring manager had taken a noticeable liking to your charismatic Internet persona when he'd emailed you to schedule the interview. When you stuttered through your first question, however, your unsinkable mood was hit by an iceberg. Conversing with him had seemed so easy online; how could it be nearly impossible in real life? Your hands shook throughout the rest of the interview, and you stumbled over every third word you spoke. When he said he'd be in touch, you doubted it, wondering where you'd gone wrong as you left the office. The limitation of human contact caused by technology has a negative effect on our lives because it results in long-term

It is easy to see how one spending all of their time toward an inanimate object could create a social bubble where there is really no need or desire to interact with people. A problem this is causing is that it is not something that is restricted to only a child development problem but also carries on through some people’s adulthood. “Even when there is an opportunity to see people face-to-face, on weekends for example, up to 11% of adults still prefer to stay at home and communicate on their devices instead.” That is astonishing that some adults still prefer to communicate electronically rather than understanding the importance in face to face interactions. “Researchers at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif., concluded that children born since 1990 have almost 80 percent fewer instances of social interaction in elementary school than previous generations.” This leads me to believe that social interaction is on the decline and if the use of technology is not limited than we will continue to see a generation that is not fully developed socially and possibly isolated from the “face to face”

3. As people decide to use technology to communicate more and talk to people less, a potential decline of verbal speaking skills, social skills, and a lack of human presence and warmth may occur.

The question asked by many professionals is if technology has inhibited human interact, more so looking at social interaction face to face. Society has gotten to a period where teenagers, or even young adults, have never experienced a time without technology. Todd Link, a writer for the Telegraph – Herald in Iowa, communicates in his article mainly about the effects of technology and what the older generations think in this technological era. “The older generation [is] venting frustration over the work habits, social skills and lack of face-to-face communication skills of other generations”

People focus too much on their social interactions with their cell phones. Soukup stated that researchers indicate that people focus on their cellular devices for “communicative purposes…they focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones” (Soukup 3). Individuals revolve around technology to communicate with one another. Having a cell phone is like having a time traveling machine that can take you to back and forth between conversations to communicate with loved ones, coworkers, and friends.