IS TECHNOLOGY ENHANCING COMMUNICATION OR DESTROYING IT?

Its around six oclock and my phone buzzes with a text from my sister telling me dinner is ready. She had been downstairs helping my mom prepare dinner. However, if it were just my mom downstairs making dinner, I would have heard someone yelling for me to come down to dinner. What changed between these two generations? Why does one rely so heavily on technology to communicate? And what effect does this have on our society? Prior to 1920, the only media that impacted the American family was print. What is so common now, could not have been seen even just thirty years ago. As a society, our means of communication has progressively shifted with the aid of technology. Face-to-face communication and even phone calls have taken a backseat in the ways in which people communicate. Now, texting and social media sites are the preferred methods of communication for many. A study done for online casino Yazino showed that one in four people spend more time socializing online, through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, than they do in person. It was also found that 11% of adults would rather remain at home and communicate via their devices even when there is an opportunity to see people face-to-face. Paul Booth, PhD, an assistant professor of media and cinema studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago explained, There has been a shift in the way we communicate; rather than face-to-face interaction, were tending to prefer mediated communication. Mediated communication refers to e-mail and texting as opposed to meeting in person or talking on the phone. According to Booth, this shift in communication has led to a shift in human relationships, making them only skin-deep. Communication within families is changing;

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some believe this has led to families becoming more distant rather than closer. It used to be much more common for families to sit down to the dinner table together, without the interference of technology. Some families do still sit down to dinner together, but it is rare to not find a cell phone nearby. In research done by Microsoft Advertising, it was found that one in three families frequently use technological devices to communicate while in the same house. This communication includes telling when dinner is ready or asking for help with homework. The Families study was conducted by the research agency Sparkler for Microsoft Advertising. It found that more than half of siblings communicate with each other through instant messaging or text messages and 30% utilize social networks. It is easy to avoid face-to-face communication with the use of texting. Improvements in the means of communication through technology can be seen as negative and deteriorating peoples abilities to interact face-to-face. Technology has enhanced my ability to nurture my relationships; I speak to my grandfather who suffers from Alzheimers every day to check in and keep him up to date on my life. We are three hours apart, but I can easily talk to him every day. After high school, one of my good friends moved to Hawaii, but with a simple text message, we can remain in contact. When my sister studied abroad in Prague last year, we were able to stay in contact via different apps on the iPhone, which allowed for communication through Wi-Fi. This is all thanks to the cell phone, which has made communication much easier. Technology provides an ease to communicate with others that previous generations did not have. My dad constantly reminds me about when he was in

college, he had to use a pay phone to call home. He explains to me that he would call home every Sunday night, because he knew his parents would be home at that time. Texting allows for constant and easy communication. At school, I prefer to call my parents whenever I have the chance, rather than texting. But, I have seen that many would rather text their parents to keep them updated. When discussing this topic with a peer, she explained, I text my mom on a mostly daily basis so she knows whats going on in my life. If I had to call her to let her know what was going on, then I would talk to her a lot less. Childhood friendships are altering due to the shift in communication, which eventually establishes a lack of communication skills. I am sure you have heard your parents saying something along the lines of, when I was your age, I had to call my friends house phone to see if they wanted to hang out. Now, things are much different. A simple text or instant message takes the place of that phone call. Prior to all of this technology, children used to actually speak to their friends; they spent time on the phone or playing in the neighborhood. Today, two children can verse each other in a game on the computer or sit side by side on laptops and call it a play date. Generations before experienced intense childhood relationships in which they really got to know someone. Unfortunately, todays children may be missing out on that. But, these childhood friendships are necessary to develop. They lay the foundation for relationships later in life. Childhood relationships are key to understanding empathy, reading social cues, and comprehending emotions. Gary Small, a neuroscientist and professor of psychiatry at U.C.L.A. and an author, uses the term digital natives to describe the generation that has grown up with This graph displays how people hear about events in their friends lives broken down by age group. As age decreases, so does the percentage of phone calls. However, the percentage of text messages increases as age decreases. Almost half of people ages 18 to 29 hear about noteworthy events in their circle of friends via Facebook.

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computers. Small notes that digital natives are already experiencing difficulty reading social cues. According to Forbes, studies show that 7% of communication is centered on the written or verbal word and the other 93% is centered on nonverbal body language. Contrary, others maintain that technology allows children to be closer because it allows them to be in constant contact with their friends. The use of text messaging as a form of communication is rising. According to a Pew Research Center survey, in 2000, the number of text messages sent in a month was around 14 billion. In 2010, that number had risen to 188 billion. The Pew Research Center also found that in 2010, about half of American teenagers between the ages of twelve and seventeen sent 50 or more text messages in one day and more than one-third sent over 100 text messages in one day. The Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project conducted another survey from which they found that two thirds of texters use their cell phones for texting rather than calling. About 54% of the teenagers surveyed explained that they text their friends once a day and about 33% of teenagers said they speak to their friends face-to-face on a daily basis. This could mean that texting is replacing face-to-face communication. But, it could be that face-to-face communication is not available and so teenagers choose to text rather than lose touch completely. It appears that younger generations prefer text messages compared to telephone calls. According to CNN, Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 send and receive about 88 text messages in a day, but only about 17 phone calls. And this is not restricted to younger generations. The 65 year old and up age range shows a similar trend. In this group, it is about 5 texts per day and only 4 phone calls. In another survey on favored forms of communication, people born between 1990 and 1999 showed texting as their preferred form of communication, with instant messaging, phone calls, and Facebook tied for second place, and in last place was face-to-face communication. When people born between 1946 and 1989 took the survey, they were found to favor face-to-face communication. In the TIME mobility poll, 32% of all respondents expressed a preference of communicating via text rather than phone call. But not only is technology changing communication, it is also seen as consuming the lives of those that use it. In 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans aged between eight and eighteen spend approximately seven and a half

AN 18 -YEAR-OLD I INTERVIEWED RECENTLY SAID, SOME DAY, BUT CERTAINLY NOT NOW, I WANT TO LEARN TO HAVE A CONV ERSATION. SHERRY TURKLE
hours a day using an electronic device ranging from smart phones to MP3 players to computers. That is equal to almost a third of their day. Granted, the whole seven and a half hours on electronic devices is not spent communicating. This trend is damaging peoples communication skills. One debate on debate.org is Does texting have adverse effects on a persons ability to communicate in other manners? 64% percent of people responded yes, while the other 36% responded no. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, explains that kids today rely strictly on written communication, especially when communicating with adults, which has the potential to hurt young peoples communication skills. Sherry Turkle is an MIT psychologist and researches the effects of texting on interpersonal development. She believes that having a conversation can teach a kid how to develop the ability to think, reason, and self-reflect. Face-to-face conversation teaches patience. This constant written communication detracts from peoples conversational skills. Turkle stated, "An 18-year-old I interviewed recently said, 'Someday, but certainly not now, I want to learn to have a conversation.'" Turkle explains that when she talks to kids, they express a fear of conversation. Kids are exhibiting a conversation-phobic demeanor. Turkle says its common for teenagers to be socially awkward and want to avoid personal interaction. But this avoidance is made much easier by cell phones and social networking sites. People that text way more than they engage in face-to-face conversations lack the ability to read nonverbal visual cues. Rob Hausler, a writer for Elite Daily explains, Texting on a daily basis makes it easy to avoid speaking with people on the phone. We nowadays tend to minimize face time and even minimize our phone conversations. By doing so, our communication skills suffer- we start to lose our conversation etiquette. Personal conversations also suffer, becoming less natural and choppy, resembling our text messaging conversations. Without having this skill, the real world might be intimidating. Melissa Ortega, a child psychologist at New Yorks

Child Mind Institute believes that kids dont know how to handle conflict face to face because so many things happen through some sort of technology. She goes on to say, Clinically, I'm seeing it in the office. The high school kids who I do see will be checking their phones constantly. They'll use it as an avoidance strategy. They'll see if they got a text message in the two minutes they were talking to me." Sherry Turkle wrote an article titled The Flight From Conversation in the New York Times. During one part of the article she states, Weve become accustomed to a new way of being alone together. Turkle says that people oftentimes wear earphones because they fear conversation. Is this a generational issue? The environment in offices is much quieter than it used to be. A senior partner at a Boston law firm tells Turkle that young associates turn their desks into cockpits with their technologies laid out on their desks. Because these young lawyers are so tuned into their cockpits, the office is almost silent. This constant use of text messages and social networks is also detracting from peoples abilities to communicate through writing. A recent study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that one of four high school seniors are proficient in writing. Kids are not learning how to spell because they are consistently using acronyms and short hand. Referring back to the debate on debate.org, one of the respondents that voted yes explains, I teach third grade and my students show evidence of writing in text when they are doing formal writing in the classroom. They write b4 instead of before, lol, etc. She goes on to say that her

students see this language everywhere and so they believe it is proper English. Best selling author, Malcolm Gladwell believes that although interaction may be increasing because of the easiness of todays communication, the relationships established are often superficial. Communication through social media oftentimes creates weak, brief, and shallow relationships preventing commitment. Written communication leads to a lack of personal connection and strong relationships. Booth identifies three main problems with communication via social media. The first is that people are more likely to trust someone over the computer and so people are more open about what they say. The second is that social media does not allow for the deepening of relationships. This is because social relationships are fortified more in faceto-face communication than through social media. The third is that it lacks diversity of beliefs because people prefer to network with those of similar views. Within the past couple decades, the technology industry has shifted the way in which society communicates. This change in communication has led to changes in the way in which our youth develops their communication skills. Although technology has made communication easier and more constant, there is no doubt it has changed and potentially has detracted from humans abilities to communicate and the ways in which human beings interact.

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Kluger, Jeffrey. "We never talk any more: The problem with text messaging." CNN. N.p., 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/tech/mobile/problem-text-messagingoms/index.html>. Ridley, Louise. "Families are turning to tech to communicate, study says." Campaign. N.p., 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1215571/families-turntechnology-aid-communication-research-shows/>. Stout, Hilary. "Antisocial Networking?" The New York Times. N.p., 30 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>. Tardanico, Susan. "Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication?" Forbes. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-realcommunication/>. Taylor, Jim. "Is Technology Creating a Family Divide?" The Huffington Post. N.p., 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/is-technology-creating-a_b_2862631.html>. Turkle, Sherry. "The Flight From Conversation." The New York Times. N.p., 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-fromconversation.html?_r=0>.