Effects of Social Media on Communication Skills: Its Ups and Downs

Overtime digital communication has had a major impact on the community building in America both positive and negative. Today social media has created a platform for everyone to share their personal opinions and ideas in a more simple and direct way and people now have access to any news anytime of the day. Why I chose the topic of positive and negative effects of social media on communication skills for this essay? I wanted to know the effects of social media on communication between people. 

Online communication makes it easier for political activist to spread their ideas and form groups of people who also have similar ideas. It seems to me that because of the use of technology this generation is a slightly more accepting of different ethnicities, religions, and cultures. But not everything on the Internet can always be factual and most of the time can be very biased. Not only that but social media has caused a decline in human social skills and interactions.

Although people tend to feel more connected to society online, it doesn’t always reflect in real life. It may be the fact that social media is more widespread but people are building more communities and small groups online than in real life; however this generation is a lot more optimistic about the impact of social media because it has opened so many doors for them in the digital world. Social media has been known to cause constant disruptions in working environments. People constantly checking their notification has caused a huge decrease in productivity and disconnecting people from collaborating with their coworkers. Not only that but multiple older people have noticed that overtime social media has negatively affected face to face communication. For Example Mark Anderson a 54 year old car salesmen spoke about what he’s noticed in younger individuals and technology and he stated that “people seem to be less gregarious-There’s less family time, because most teenagers are involved on their devices, compared to some years ago”. Because our phones and computers provide us with so much information so quickly and easily people find it addicting and no longer see how real world communication can truly benefit you. Almost everything that can be done in real life has been made available through the internet. It seems to me that some people no longer find entertainment out of spending time with family and going out to do more activities.

But There is no denying that Social media has had some major positive impacts. Social media has done a lot to enhance community building. In terms of Politics one of the most beneficial outcomes of social networking is that it opens doors for voters to interact with political leaders. In the past it used to be a lot harder to reach a government official. Now people can create political groups online with people who share the same views as their own. Not only that but it is easier for political leaders to interact with people to address the concerns of the voters. For example in March of 2018 Beto O’Rourke ran as the Democratic nominee for Texas senate. Through social media Beto contacted multiple younger individuals who had been involved in the Tragic school shooting in Florida to find out their direct perspective on gun laws in America and used their knowledge and experience to help him learn more about what he would need to improve if he became the senator of Texas.

Even though social media has caused a decline in real life community building and activities it does make it easier for people to contact family members and make new friends with people anywhere in the world with diverse backgrounds. It also helps upcoming artist share their art or music. Students also engage in their own communities by using sites such as go fund me to raise money for different charities. For Example Global warming has been an issue for many years but hasn’t always been a concern to the younger generation but today through social media people are starting to shed more light on the issue. Global warming activist Greta Thunberg doesn’t deny social Media’s impact on her publicity. Inspired by the teenage survivors of the Parkland school shooting, Greta Thunberg constantly uses twitter and other social media platforms to reach a larger audience to share her knowledge and concern about the topic. This has landed her many opportunities to be on major television networks and opened doors for her to speak publicly at multiple protest.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that Digital Communication does have its ups and downs when it comes to community building. It has impacted multiple perspectives on politics, religion, and many other things. It can be misused and used to your own advantage. It is important to realize Communication is constantly evolving therefore somewhat decreasing people’s desire to have real social interactions.

Work Cited

• Bhat, Athar. “POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON POLITICS.” Thrive Global, 25 Apr. 2019, thriveglobal.com/stories/positive-and-negative-effects-of-social-media-on-politics/.
• Brownstein, Ronald. “How Has Technology Changed the Concept of Community?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 26 June 2018, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/community-in-the-digital-age/408961/.
• Admin, and Admin@seo. “Effects of Social Media on Communication Skills.” The Knowledge Review, 28 Feb. 2018, theknowledgereview.com/effects-social-media-communication-skills/.
• Hanke, Stacey. “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate.” Thrive Global, 13 Sept. 2018, thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-affects-our-ability-to-communicate/.