The Impact Of Technology On Human Development And Family Development

Communication plays a vital role in human life. Being able to communicate is one of the most important things humans do for one another. There are hundreds of different ways humans communicate whether it’s through different languages, talking on the phone or sending letters in the mail, and the most recent form of communication, social media. What is so outstanding about social media is the fact that it allows individuals to represent themselves and have their own voice in the form of words, pictures, and videos. How is this new form of communication affecting the younger generations? Social media has had a detrimental effect on how we interact with each other, especially little kids and young adults.

Technology has dramatically affected the way family members relate with one another. Several years ago family members lived for each other and had a lot of affection for each other from the way they communicated to the way they carried out their activities together. In the modern era technology has replaced the intimate relationship between parents and children. The use of human and non-human characters affects the nature of the relationship that exists in a family and the expectations of various characters from other characters. For example, the automation of various functions at home increases human interaction with various machines and undermine the relationship between family members. Technology has impacted families negatively by creating undermining the expectations of how individuals relate to others.

These drawbacks include too many people being reliant to talking online rather than in person and not verbally communicating with friends even though they are in the same room. Jasmine Fowlkes shows the reality in how social media is affecting our new generation through her article, “Viewpoint: Why Social Media is Destroying our Social Skills.” After discussing the results conducted by several researchers, Fowlkes states,“As more generations are born into the social age, social media will continue to be the favored communication form among young people. However, this shift may begin to affect their ability to properly communicate in person with peers.” Many start to rely on applications on our devices to talk to people, but this results in less verbal communication. In addition, Kelly-Fay’s Talktrack research study showed that conversations held in person are much more impactful than on social media. Rather than making social media a huge part of your life, Fowlkes wishes that people would look up from their phones and engage more with others since that could change their lives.

When technological advancement began so did the growth of social networking. Social networking became easier with the innovation of smartphones, by making social media more accessible than its initial phases. However, in social networking’s earliest stages social media sites were created with the purpose of helping people stay linked together despite the distance separating each other. During that time, the only means of using these networking sites were by having access to a computer. Without the easy accessibility to computers, people back then could carry on with everyday life tasks without social networking distracting us from the life around us. Despite social media not fully taking off until the booming of mobile devices, the earliest known form of social media is believed to have been created in 1995 by way of Classmates.com. Eventually being followed by networks such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest (Social Media). Unfortunately networking quickly changed in the 2010s when smartphones became more common and social media sites began to release their products as mobile applications or apps (Social Media). In this day and age in which some school-age children are gifted mobile devices almost everyone can get their hands on social media. It has become so easy to stay communicated by means of these social media apps that we are starting to forget how to interact among each other. We are moving away from face to face

There are many risks that come with excessive social media use. One of which is its effects on important social skills children need in their futures. Texting, Social Media messaging, and even phone calls erode on a child's communication and can harm their relationships with their peers. One way they do this is by reducing the intimacy when communicating. Without a person's face and voice, conversations with them over various Social Media makes the conversation less important and may drive the two people apart. The quality of conversations also plummets as long, descriptive sentences are a taboo when instant messaging. The use of shorter, compact words and text slang may limit the child in how they are able to express themselves later in their life. Finally, Social Media prevents children from practicing empathy. Missing facial expressions, voices, and body language limit the use of this important skill and may keep a child from noticing when a peer or loved one is distressed. A study done by UCLA Scientists took two groups of sixth graders,

In our modern international society, technology continues to advance rapidly and change the way we communicate. In the essay “Is Technology Destroying Social Bonds?” Shawn Ghuman claims that “Digital communication has taken away from what makes humans thrive, the ability to express thoughts through in person discussion” (Ghuman 8). I agree that this may be the case, considering how often people now choose to communicate digitally rather than in person. Nowadays, young adults are becoming uncomfortable with direct confrontation of any kind. Even talking over the phone and making a simple dentist appointment. For our society to keep moving forward, it is necessary that we develop the social skills needed in order to have proper face to face communication. Unfortunately, due to over-reliance on social media to communicate with others, today’s young adults are losing valuable opportunities to practice face to face interactions that are needed to develop strong social skills.

The use of social media is ruining this generation’s real life social skills. According to Social Media Today, an online community for professionals, “The amount of time people spend on social media is constantly increasing. Teens now spend up to nine hours a day on social platforms, while 30% of all time spent online is now allocated to social media interaction.” Texting or online communications does not allow people to truly express themselves for who they truly are. There is a loss of social and personal development communicating through social media. For instance, people online are unable to use body language, tone, voice and facial expressions through a text. An article on The Telegraph, pointed out that “One in four people spend more time socialising online, using sites such as Facebook, than they do in person, according to research.” The study also found that 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. (USA Today). The problem with socialising online is that affects a person’s ability to communicate properly in face-to-face interactions. The person will feel a sense of social anxiety and not project their voice loud enough for their audience to hear them. For

In order for future generations and today’s youth to be better communicators, it’s important that focus is returned to more face to face communications instead of social media and texts. If the youth continue to use social media as a means to communication future generations will be less educated and will not be prepared to enter the working world.

Today, people think that when they are texting someone or direct messaging a person that it is the same as a normal conversation that would take place in person. In the article, “Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children,” Jane E. Brody agrees when she writes, “Technology is a poor substitute for personal interaction,” which is a very true statement. One is not fully interacting with a person without face to face interaction. People are lacking these social skills and becoming socially awkward because of isolation and not engaging in face to face contact. People get on their electronic devices for hours at a time and isolate themselves from everything. Not only are people lacking social skills, but they are lacking social bonds. Without the one on one connection and a conversation in person, a bond cannot be created. People are using technology as a poor excuse to not have to take time out of their day to actually create social bonds with people and practice their social skills. Not only that but the lack of social skills not only effects teens and adults but it can be a problem in young children when they are

Social media is considered an interaction between groups or individuals that share common or new ideas amongst people worldwide. There is a significant impact of social networks on young people. Children are being manipulated by networking sites such as Facebook, accessing them through via cellphones that has become the most important thing in their lives. By this method this form of communicating is wildly spread amongst peers, parents and others. There is less utilization on a face to face conversation which lacks interpersonal skills.

The rapid evolution of how we investigate queries or entertain our children is creating vast demographic gaps as small as three years as technology is seemingly enveloping our way of life, communication and how we portray ourselves. Throughout time, we, as a human race, have always tried to transcend our limitations by developing tools to ensure our dominance and advancement to better our society. However I believe it has come to the point where our rapid development of Information technology throughout the years particularly in the last 30, is breeding a socially incompetent society where crucial life skills such as body language and the art of face to face interaction is being lost through the use of Social network sites, texting and

Technology is one of the crippling accessories that's destroying our communication skills. It affects the way people think about everything. Kids don’t know how to interact with other kids in real life. Everything is via text. 1/3 of children under the age of two have used social media or technology. Imprinting that kind of idea into the minds of children that can’t even make their own decisions yet, is detrimental to their

Contrary to what you may believe from the previous results above, the evidence from “Social Interactions across Media: Interpersonal Communication on the Internet, Face-to-Face, and the Telephone,” nevertheless, shows that most of college students chose to communicate face-to-face than communicating over the phone. The results raised the question on the reasons why this may affect a kid’s development of social skills or social norms. Which is to say, if a child’s only source for interaction is through a screen, what do children have to mimic and develop crucial

Not only are people spending an exorbitant amount of time on social networking sites, they are also developing a tendency to be more comfortable having serious conversations through social media or some other form of non-personal communication. This is especially prevalent amongst children ages thirteen to eighteen, “young Facebook users are relying less on interpersonal communication skills and more on technology to communicate for them,” (Konrardy). This can be a huge detriment to their development of interpersonal skills. If children do not learn how to communicate effectively at a young age, it can hinder them in the future whether in job interviews or when dealing with personal conflict in relationships. Communication is necessary to live peaceably in our society. If children are taught that Facebook and other social networking sites are acceptable forms of serious conversation, they will be less likely to succeed in their personal and public lives. Susan Tardanico said in an article that, “…these generations – which will comprise more than 50% of the workforce by 2020 – would prefer to use instant messaging or other social media than stop by an office and talk with someone,” (Tardanico 1). This change in communication styles has made it difficult for employers to build trust and employee loyalty which then, in turn, can negatively impact productivity.

Human nature dictates a primal need for personal interaction. Just as animals form packs and herds as a natural instinct for survival, people require a personal connection in order to thrive socially, emotionally and intimately. However, advancement in technology, especially over the last ten years, has created a significant adverse effect on how we communicate with one another. Social media, email, text messaging, instant messaging and videoconferencing have become increasingly popular venues of communication particularly among young adults. As a result, this generation's interpersonal skills are rapidly diminishing with the influx of gadgets. Although some believe the benefits of