Adolescents are communicating less face-to-face and more through smartphones and social media. They average 60 texts per day, up from 50 in 2009, and can access friends through Facebook without actual interaction. This overuse of technology has negatively impacted social skills as face-to-face communication has decreased. Texting also removes tone and context from conversations, making messages prone to misinterpretation and preventing thinking on one's feet. As technology continues to connect people virtually over personally, social skills risk continuing to deteriorate.
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The ability to communicate and the level of social
skills a person has are based upon their relationships
and are learned over the course of their childhood,
adolescence, and into their adulthood. The different
relationships we have growing up, from our family, to our
teachers and classmates, to our friends, shape the way
we are able to communicate and interact with society as
an adult. Adolescence is a time when the individual
starts learning as much about the world outside of the
classroom as they do inside, begin forming opinions,
and begin building the person that they will eventually
become. The way adolescents have been
communicating with one another has certainly changed
over generations. The Silent Generation
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grew up communicating face to face. The Baby Boomer
adolescents would talk on the phone for hours at night
on a landline. Generation Y grew up with AOL Instant
Messenger, and cell phones were just beginning to
become popular. (Hammill, 2005, p.1) Today’s
generation has a dozen ways of communicating with
their friends, and they can all be accessed through their
smart phone. “In a new survey by the Pew Internet
Research Center, U.S. teenagers are talking on
landlines and cell phone less, using more
smartphones, and are averaging 60 texts a day--up from
50 in 2009” (Kerr, 2012, p.1). The more technology has
grown, the smaller face-to-face communication has
become, which has had an overall negative affect on
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adolescent’s social skills. (Luden, 2010, p. 1) The
smartphone has had a significant impact through its
Facebook and text messaging capabilities.
Facebookhas completely changed the way
adolescent’s interact with, and keep in touch with
their friends. (Jackson, 2012, p.1) A person is able
to see what
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one of their Facebook friends has been doing in the past
year that they haven’t seen them, with pictures and
conversations between others, without actually
reconnecting with them. No longer does one need to
wait until Monday morning homeroom to hear what one
of their friends did this weekend. The concept could
seem like a good idea, but it takes away from the need
for face-to-face communication. Facebook can also be
related to problems with one’s self-esteem. A person’s
Facebook is supposed to be like an online version of
their life, but in reality, no one has as many “friends” in
real life as they do on Facebook. Having a lot of
Facebook friends “may increase your self-esteem due to
more social support
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received, but interactions may be more superficial”
(Jackson, 2011, p.1). It may seem like you are
popular on Facebook, but this does not mean you
are popular in real life. Facebook only shows what
you choose to put there, sometimes portraying what
you want your life to look like rather then the real
thing. This is just like text messaging, in that you
are able to control the communication while hiding
behind a screen.
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Texting is a relatively new form of
communication, and it has taken the world by
storm. Texting has taken away the need to actually
use your voice when communicating
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with friends, and has given users the power to
completely hide behind their screen. “Today, many are
those who consider their mobile phones first as text
messaging devices, and secondly as voice calling
devices" (Dansieh, 2011, p.4). In the case of an
argument, texting gives you time to stop and plan out
what you are going to say. This is probably better in
regards to the argument, but it takes away from your
ability to think on your feet when involved in verbal
conflict. Quick thinking is a good tool to have when
working in a business environment later in life, and you
are not always going to have that extra time to perfect
what you will say to your boss. Katherine Bindley from
the Huffington Post says: "We all know
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the story of kids breaking up with each other through text
message. When you have to fire someone or give them
bad news, it's uncomfortable. In face-to-face
conversation, you've got to think on your feet. ... You've
got to respond right away" (as quoted in Bindley, 2011,
p.1). One may think there is no practice for thinking on
your feet, but when you never are forced to think quickly
in an uncomfortable environment, it may be impossible
when you are finally faced with it. NiniHalkett, a teacher
at a Los Angeles high school describes what she has
been seeing, "They can get up the courage to ask you
for [a deadline] extension on the computer," she says.
"But they won't come and speak to you face-to-face
about it. And that worries me, in terms of
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their ability — particularly once they get out in the
workplace — to interact with people" (as quoted in
Ludden, 2010, p.1). The text message has also
taken away the tone and sarcasm out of a person’s
voice. When saying something out loud, certain
stresses of a word or sentence would demonstrate
to the listener that you are either being sarcastic, or
implying something else. This is nearly impossible
to recreate in a text message, and messages are
often misinterpreted.
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With this new form of communication has come a
new language. Texting is a slang version of e-mail. All
text messages are sent with a maximum number of 160
characters, “Not only do text messaging and Twitter
have character limitations, so
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do other forms of new media, such as IM (instant
messaging) and Internet chat rooms. Thus, based on
the need to get a point over quickly, there developed the
need to use as few words and letters as possible to get
one's point across (Dixon, 2011, p.2). It has now
become more then a way to get the point across quickly,
but has become socially acceptable to misspell words
on purpose. Abbreviations and acronyms have made
their way out of the smart phone an into every day
vocabulary. Terms like “Yolo”, “OMG”, “LOL”, etc. have
become so popular in texting that people will actually
say them out loud. Not only is texting affecting
adolescent’s spelling, but it is affecting their vocabulary
and the way they speak.
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Why have Facebook, text messaging, and
smartphones affected social skills? The answer involves
the way humans are able to communicate with one
another without actually seeing or hearing each other at
all, from one screen to another screen. Going out to a
restaurant, you are bound to see at least one couple
sitting at the table each looking down at their phones
rather than engaging in conversation with one another.
This goes with the idea that Facebook could create self-
esteem issues. If a person is going out to a fancy
dinner, posting statuses and pictures, and then not
actually enjoying the company they are with, it is as if
they care more about what it looks like they are doing on
Facebook then what they actually are doing in
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that moment. The same holds true with a situation
in which you are close to strangers, whether in a
train car, or an elevator. Before smart phones,
these people would probably spark up a
conversation rather than all standing awkwardly,
staring into space. Now when someone steps into
an elevator, the first thing they do is turn to their
phone to avoid actual communication, and engage
in virtual communication. In terms of
communication, this is a step in the wrong direction.
In a time period when it is so easy to “have your
voice be heard”, your actual voice is really never
being heard.
15. WORKS CITED
B. Dixon Jr., J. (2011). Texting, Tweeting, and
Other Internet Abbreviations. Judges'
Journal, 50(4), 30-33.
Bindley, K. (2011, Dec 10). When children text all day, what
happens to their socialskills?. . Retrieved from http://
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/children-texting-
technology-social-skills_n_1137570.html
Dansieh, S. (2011). SMS Texting and Its Potential Impacts on
Students' Written Communication Skills. International
Journal Of English Linguistics, 1(2), 222-229. doi:10.5539/
ijel.v1n2p222
Hammill, G. (2005, July 10). Mixing and Managing Four
Generations. Fdu magazine online. Retrieved from
http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/05ws/
generations.htm
16. WORKS CITED
Jackson, N. (2011, May 31). The Facebook Effect on Relationships.
Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/05/31/
facebook-relationships/
Kerr, D. (2012, March 19). Teens prefer texting over phone calls, e-
mail. Retrieved fromhttp://news.cnet.com
8301-1023_3-57400439-93/teens-prefer-texting-over-phone-
calls-e-mail/
Ludden, J. (2010, April 20). Teen texting soars; will social skills
suffer? National public radio. Retrieved from http://
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1261
17811
Van DerHeide, B., D'Angelo, J. D., &Schumaker, E. M. (2012).
The Effects of Verbal Versus Photographic Self-
Presentation on Impression Formation inFacebook.
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1460-2466.2011.01617.x
