The Development of Social Skills
The development of social skills start from a tender age and progresses along the development stage as one people interact with members of his or her peers. Moreover, socialization principles need to be conserved along each developmental stage for a better living environment. The development of these social skills enhances the functions of the society from the infancy stage to adulthood. The norms and values acquired through socialization are crucial in the survival of society as a collection of groups of people interacting with each other. However, as the world has changed so rapidly, people have found new ways to converse and socialize. Technology has been greatly attributed to these changes and therefore plays an important part in how we have come to converse and socialize with members of our peer group. Most importantly, social media has provided a platform where people have interacted with each other and relationships have been built. This essay, therefore, seeks to discuss the social media impact on socialization based on sociology principles.
Socialization and Learning
Socialization encompasses the whole process of learning throughout each stage of life and is a central influence on the beliefs, behavior, and actions in adolescents, children, and adults. Human infants do not have a culture after birth and therefore must be transformed within the environment in which they adept. During socialization, people learn the language of culture as well as the roles in which one must play in life, to enhance appropriate and expected behaviors in the society. According to Conley, socialization is the "process which individuals internalize values, beliefs, and norms of a society and learn to function as members" (114). Conley further argues that the media does not primarily enhance the functions of the society through the transcription of norms and values. The interactions therefore between social media and an individual shape the person and the critical expectations of that person in the society. The limits of socialization which are acquired progressively throughout the cycle of life do not become evident when a person engages in social media throughout his life. One may not be sure of how to behave, wear and act among groups of people if he or she constantly engage in a virtual world that exists in the new age.
Social Networking and Socialization
Another impact of media towards the process of socialization is the formation of a socially adept person who does not have the chance to participate in social dealings without the feelings of discomfort. While social networking plays a crucial role in the process of socialization, it provides a platform for building relationships in a smaller group which an individual particularly identifies with. As Conley argues we now live in a media-saturated society where there are tensions and contradictions which are created when individual identity conflicts with large social forces (126). As such, the media shapes the culture where people interact and live and therefore groups and individuals use this media to redefine, shape and change the expected forms of socialization across the different development stages.
Shaping Society and Identity
Social media, therefore, attempts to shape the society and to dictate the humanistic approach that is deeply rooted in the stages of human psychology. Gramsci’s concept of hegemony can help us in comprehending the physical differences between socialization in the natural sense and socialization through social media. The values projected and reflected onto an individual through social media according to hegemony has created stereotypes. On the other hand, socialization in the natural sense molds particular belief and attitudes towards the socialization processes. Norms and concepts develop naturally and in the appropriate stages of development thereby shaping an expected behavior at the specific development stage rather than having an influence.
Visual Evidence and Culture
Visual evidence and visual culture is an increasingly central idea to the process of development. As Ferguson argues, self and identity in sociology explain the different approaches that individuals have to overcome in order to successfully socialize with other people (5). Self and identity affect the physical development and mental attitude of aggression, initiative, expectations, and independence. Amongst the theories of socialization illustrated by Conley is the theory of Me, Myself and I. Conley argues that to function as full members of a society, there is a need to recognize the needs, wants and desires of peoples that are sometimes different and sometimes similar in nature to our desires and wants (Conley 151). Through the actualization of these needs and desires, the distinction between self and identity becomes clear. Social media has however contributed significantly in shaping self and identity amongst individuals in a society and therefore altering the decades of development and socialization that was achieved before the new era of socialization. As people become more culturally diverse, social battles have been fought for ages based on what should and what should not be accepted as a norm, and the different socialization experiences of people that separates them into cultures.
Impact on Cultural Interactions
Social media, therefore, has been able to integrate all these cultures into a single platform regardless of their acceptance within groups of people. As such, the adoption of a foreign culture due to social media influence can result in people judging the victim too harshly and challenge them unrealistically because of the adoption of a foreign culture. Ferguson argues that when people of different cultures intermingle with each other, several aspects must come into an agreement before a natural and subconscious agreement between the two (15). Social media has therefore bypassed these stages of negotiations and therefore act as a barrier of socialization amongst people and in most cases leading to the seclusion of people who adopt foreign personalities that have not been formally accepted by the society at large. Through these process of negotiation that takes time before acceptance, violent conflicts have even emerged based on the cultural barriers that hinder communities and social groups from interacting with each other. Conley states that "we are largely shaped by interaction such that the society without the human interaction would not develop" (Conley 149). The concept of generalized other according to Conley is crucial in understanding the impact of the media in shaping identities. It represents the internalized sense that people are able to socialize and function within a society regardless of whether they have encountered different people and a variety of settings before.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the new era of technology we are currently experiencing has shaped the process of socialization amongst people in a society. Through social media, people have been able to avoid the natural process of socialization between the self and the other. Moreover, social media has made socialization amongst cultures to evolve rapidly thereby creating a conflict in the interaction of people among existing social groups. The social media, therefore, should be used in moderation to avoid cultural interferences in the process of socialization.
Works Cited
Dalton, Conley. You May Ask Yourself. New York City: W.W. Norton, 2015.
Ferguson, Susan. Mapping the Social Landscape Readings in Sociology. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.
