Facebook and Communication

The days of face-to-face communications seem to have gone by after Facebook changed the way people interacted. Social networking sites have handed or created innumerable ways for people to communicate with each other.

WTF, LOL, OMG, GR8

Even though it is easy to use Facebook, it enables an informal, unnatural and grammatically incorrect way of communicating. Or what I call the Facebook Generation Communication. Enough reasons to worry English literature professors, teachers and parents.

The negative effect of Facebook on communication is already evident in how people interact out of the cyberspace. Students for example use the traits, whether correct or incorrect in writing papers for their classes, in phone conversations and face to face interactions. It has become fascinating for English literature professors and psychologists to study how students find it tolerable to used words like ‘i’ for ‘I’, ‘u’ for ‘you’, ‘sry’ for ‘sorry’, ‘ty’ for ‘thank you’ and similar substitutes. This is the acceptable writing norm on social sites like Facebook. Once it becomes a habit among users it will gradually erode the importance of the language in real life.

If that doesn’t convince you why you should avoid Facebook communication, there are more implications to be discussed. As an increasing number of people are spending more and more of their time communicating through the site, they are gradually forgetting to communicate effectively in face to face, verbal interactions. People who spend more time on Facebook find it difficult to converse and maintain proper eye contact at the same time.

Facebook propagates a form of communication where people shy behind the computer screen, smartphones and IPads and this results in lowering of their confidence. This takes away their ability to make an impression on the decision makers. According to many teachers, it is important to have face to face direct communication if you want to make a difference in the real world. In fact, interpersonal communication is a kind of an art that requires significant skills. And, good communication skills are essential when you are searching for a job, asking a stranger for directions or trying to find good services as a customer.

Wherever a minimum of 2 people are involved, it is important to have effective communication. And, when you are connecting with professionals, it becomes even more important. In an article released in a Southeast Missouri State University paper, it is highlighted by the author that Facebook has enabled students to stay away from face to face communication.

Facebook, email, text messages were all created in order to enable communication in a better way. However, how things have turned out, these tools are actually running the communication skills of people of all age groups. Facebook was originally started as a social hub to help students to remain in touch with their school friends. But, today it has emerged into a platform that people use for contacting and communicating with people they may have never ever met. That really seems strange and its impact on your communication skills and the way you interact with people is a good reason to avoid it.

Some of the leading studies on the negative impact of Facebook on communication have been conducted by students. This is a clear indication how the young adults are starting to realize that it is important for them to avoid Facebook style communicatioms. But, most of the other young adults don’t understand how this social site is adding elements to their habits that they take along to their studies and to the real world. As an employee it is important for everyone to communicate effectively, failing effective communication at work would put a heavy damper for your future aspirations. Let alone being able to survive the corporate politics amoung your peers. If you are serious about your real life, then you would have to curtail your online life and start communicating in real life.