Face-to-face contact is being replaced by social media, which has increased brief but frequent communication while decreasing family-related interpersonal communication. The widespread use of social media as a result of recent technical advancements has changed communication patterns. The majority of people have access to social media, which they use in place of more conventional forms of contact.
Short and frequent communication has grown as a result of social media. As the old conventional ways of communication are challenged, communication is getting shorter. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Facetime have enabled their users to communicate with people at any time. As a result, users talk when they need to, and the interaction is often shorter. Since the users are available on social networks most of the time, people interact frequently but for a short period (Baruah 2012, p.2).
Physical face to face interaction is slowly being replaced by the use of social media (Salgur 2016, p.7). People are increasing joining a number of social media platforms, majorly to interact with others who are very far. Some social media platforms through video and voice calls function the same way a physical conversation could operate. Therefore, the use of physical face to face communication is greatly being reduced. (Salgur 2016, p.7)
Social media has reduced interpersonal communication with family (Vevere 2015, p.133). Interpersonal communication within a family is essential, but it has been affected by the use of social media. Most of the individual's time is spent on social networks rather than family interactions. People find the need to communicate with distance friends on social networks and forget to spend time interacting with family members. As a result of interpersonal communication in families significantly reduces each day (Vevere 2015, p.133).
The use of social media has enhanced communication between people all over the world. However, with the increase in the number of social media users, real face to face communication has been reduced. As people spend most of their time on social media, interpersonal communication in families is reduced. Consequently, communication patterns have changed with the use of social media as interactions have become shorter and frequent compared.
References
Baruah, T. G. (2012). Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study. International Journal of scientific and Research Publications, 2 (5), 2.
Salgur, A. S. (2016, June 11). How Does the Use of Social Networking Affect Family Communication of the Teenagers? Euromentor Journal, 1-13.
Vevere, V. (2015). Impact of Social Media on Interpersonal Communication Pattern. Socialinity moksly studijos, 7 (1), 124-138.
