How Interpersonal Relationships are affected by Social Media
When it comes to social media and the effects it has on interpersonal relationships, many would argue that it has more of a negative impact than a positive one. While one may have an increase in the amount of “friends” they have, the immediate physical relationships are the ones being negatively affected. The more friends one has online, the more prone they are to spend ridiculous amounts of time on their computer, smartphone, tablet, etc. in order to keep up with what they are doing. This increase in Internet usage has resulted in less time spent with those physically around you and of course, the less time you spend with someone the weaker the relationship gets. Daniel Gulati discusses this problem in his article, “Facebook Is Making Us Miserable.”
In this article, Gulati describes the three areas negatively affected by our increased usage of Internet and social media sites. The last of these three areas is the decline in close relationships. Gulati argues, “Gone are the days where Facebook merely complemented our real-life relationships. Now, Facebook is actually winning share of our core, off-line interactions.” What he means by this is that people prefer contacting each other over a message or comment rather than taking the time to meet up and talk to each other in person. Another factor that contributes to the problem is the ability for people to communicate via video chat. It is almost the same thing as having someone in front of you physically without being able to physically touch them. However, many people fail to realize why this is an actual problem.
For one, Gulati argues that people miss the chance to be able to develop deeper connections with people. A deep face-to-face conversation is going to evoke more emotion that a message, comment or video chat could ever provide. In a way it is as if people have more of a superficial relationship than a relationship with an emotional connection. Aside from building relationships, people are slowly forgetting how to communicate face-to-face with strangers as well. Everywhere you walk you will see people overcome by their technology. People will bump into you while you are walking because they fail to look up, it is almost impossible to go to dinner with someone without having them check their phone and car accidents due to texting are becoming more and more common.
In my opinion, social media sites such as Facebook do have a negative impact on interpersonal relationships. What do you think ?When it comes to romantic relationships, couples often spend the whole day texting each other, which results in them not having much to talk about when they see each other in person. Not only has that Facebook also ruined a lot of relationships. It is more and more common for people to get jealous over a comment, like, or even message between their significant other and somebody else. Lastly, people consider communicating online as keeping a relationship rather than taking the time to spend actual time with another person. People forget that when they are in person it is easier to sense emotion and be able to look somebody in the eyes, which causes a deeper connection. Those things are impossible to sense when someone is not in front of you.
Gulati, Daniel. “Facebook Is Making Us Miserable.”Harvard Business Review. HBR Blog Network, 09 Dec 2011. Web. 3 Oct 2013. <http://blogs.hbr.org/2011/12/facebook-is-making-us-miserabl/>.
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