Can Social Media Destroy Real-Life Communication?

As humanity progresses, the way people communicate changes as well, with every year becoming
easier and more effective. First, there was post-crossing, then phones were invented, and now,
when almost all people have access to the internet, social media is used in order to not only
communicate internationally, but also within short distances.

With growing popularity of platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other messaging
apps, some started to argue that real-life communication is on the edge of extinction. It is especially
dangerous for those who are already growing up using social media. On the other hand, people
also suggest that online communication is only improving the state in which people live in, and it
is just a matter of time when there will be achieved a great balance between real-life and online
communication. What is sure to say is that social media has definitely affected face-to-face
interaction in a lot of cases, yet it is up for anyone to make their own decision if this influence is
negative or positive.

One of the arguments against excessive use of texting and online communication is the fact that
children will not be able to develop verbal skills and emotional intelligence. Dr. Kate Roberts, a
Boston-based school psychologist, is an owner of such an opinion, and she blames technologies
on the increasing amount of people who have problems with face-to-face communication, saying
that “it is like we have lost the skill of courtship and the ability to make that connection” (Johnson).
She is also highly concerned about children’s brains changing because they use an easier method
of communication, through online media. Yet, some parents are already taking action by the time
that their kids spend online, so this problem might be more about good parenting, than about
limiting how destructive Instagram and Facebook are.

Some also argue that social media is harming friendships people have in real life. Some studies
speculate that a human brain can only handle a friendship with a limited amount of people, about
150 people to be exact (Chesak), which could resonate negatively with social media’s friend
groups having no limits. Due to the excessive amount of friends online to communicate with,
people could find themselves having not enough time or energy to spend on real-life friends.

These are not the only negative consequences of increasing use of social media. People who text
tend to use verbal language less, which could decrease language skills and make it harder to build
a structurally correct sentence (“The Negative Impacts of Social Media on Face-to-Face
Interactions”). What also needs to be addressed is an increasing problem with social media
addiction, which might be more harmless than smoking or drinking, yet it still profoundly impairs
the quality of life, and makes it harder to not only communicate in real life, but also perform other
essential actions like working, driving, or even eating.
Ordinary people tend to have different opinions even when they are not considering scientific
studies, though it is evident that the most popular belief is that online communication is, in fact,
harming real-life communication. To the question of whether social media destroys real human
relationships, eighty percent of the people on Debate.org answered “yes,” and only twenty percent
chose “no” (“Does Social Media Destroy Real Human Relationships?”). People are sharing their
opinions that using phones makes people ignore what is happening around them, and online
interaction cannot replace face-to-face communication.

There are quite a lot of reasons why people think that social media is affecting real-life
communication negatively, yet it has not destroyed it. As it is, for now, people use social media as
one of the tools to communicate, and the time when social media will entirely replace face-to-face
interaction has not come yet, and it probably will never come, if people try hard enough.
Works Cited

Chesak, Jennifer. “How Social Media Is Taking Away from Your Friendships.” Healthline,
Healthline Media, 9 Jan. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/health/how-social-media-is-ruining-
relationships#2.

“Does Social Media Destroy Real Human Relationships” Debate.org,

https://www.debate.org/opinions/does-social-media-destroy-real-human-relationships

Johnson, Chandra. “Face Time vs. Screen Time: The Technological Impact on Communication.”
Desert News, Desert News Publishing Company, 29 Aug. 2014,
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865609628/How-technology-is-changing-the-way-we-
communicate.html.

“The Negative Impacts of Social Media on Face-to-Face Interactions.” Final Inquiry Project, 1
Dec. 2015, https://rampages.us/peasedn200/2015/12/01/final-inquiry-project/.

We can’t imagine our life without social media. We communicate, share our emotions, order food,
and work online. But what about real-life communication? The author of the social media essay
suggests that Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and other services can’t destroy face-to-face
interaction, but they certainly may hurt our communication.If you’re interested in similar topics,
we highly recommend you to read another https://essayshark.com/blog/social-media-essay/" social
media argumentative essay</a> on how social media connect people or cause isolation. You’re
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Does Social Media Fame Impact a Person’s Life?

Social media, which represents the phenomenon of the modern era, has been proven to have a
major influence on a person’s way of life. Be that as it may, one of the main functions of social
media alongside communication is making the private become public. People share events from
their lives and personal photos; in other words, they become connected to others through sharing
stories and images.

By considering the matter of ratings of social media that in fact are reflected in the phenomenon
of “likes” and “comments,” a person who sometimes has more “likes” and “comments” than other
people accordingly becomes famous on social media. Apparently, fame on social media has a
considerable influence on how a person perceives their status in real life as well.

The matter of fame has been proven to have an effect on people’s lives since the existence of civil
society. Usually, fame comes from many areas of one’s life, such as politics, social activity, public
life in general, and the entertainment industry. It has become to be so that the entertainment
industry is the one which provides the most considerable amount of people with fame. Other areas
do also claim of making people famous, but what is more important is that in order to be famous
a person must be public (Replogle). Fame influences the public status of a person, or in other
words, the way other people perceive the person who is considered famous (Brim). Public
perception, in turn, influences self-perception of a person and raises a person’s social status in the
eyes of others, and in the eyes of that person as well.

By being called “social,” the media have a noticeable effect on socializing. However, the real-life
image comes to be entirely different. The impact of social media has also proven to depersonalize
people in real life, and make them more estranged and alienated from one another. Be that as it
may, social media and real-life events are connected because people post things on social media
that in fact occur in their lives. Nonetheless, the reality reflected on the screens of cell phones is
the reality that comes to be distorted by the very same screen. This way, when a person who
becomes famous on social media also happens to be arrogant because of it, it comes to be evident
that fame and arrogance at the same time are fake, while also being built on false representation
and perception. For this reason, one must claim that fame in social media does not always mean
fame in real life. Moreover, fame in real life, even though it becomes fame on social media, always
comes first, and this could not be considered as the one that influences a person’s life in the first
place.

All in all, it must be said that fame on social media influences a person’s life significantly by
changing the status in real life as well. Still, the fame on social media appears to be fake for most
of the time, as it is perfected and distributed as the most efficient possible scenarios of reality. The
second kind of fame that comes from real life, and is reflected in social media, could not be
considered as fame on social media, which influences a person’s life.
Works Cited

Brim, Orville Gilbert. Look at Me!: The Fame Motive from Childhood to Death. University of
Michigan Press, 2019, pp. 22-33. Accessed 17 Feb 2019.

Replogle, Elaine. “Fame, Social Media Use, and Ethics.” Sociological Forum, vol 29, no. 3, 2014,
pp. 736-742. Wiley, doi:10.1111/socf.12112.