We can see the decline in social skills and knowledge as we look at the outcomes of technology being introduced to the world. Yes, there are many useful tactics and abilities technology provides us with. On the other hand, we can see how engulfed everyone is by the devices in their hand and everywhere else. The people who make up the generation I grew up in, being born in 2003, technology was introduced to us by the time we already had a "normal" childhood. I surround the word normal with parenthesis because children who are growing up in recent years are more worried about getting the newest forms of technology, rather than focusing on learning and taking the steps to grow up.
If you look around the next time you go out, I can bet that 7/10 of those people will be so invested in their phones, they will not know what is going on around them. People are missing so many opportunities to thrive, be successful, and create relationships with different people who can help them down the line. The meaningfulness of holding a conversation with someone is valuable amongst every generation, and recently, it has been diminished. While people may say that they talk to people all the time online, it is not as real or valuable as being face-to-face with someone. You can see their body language, understand the person more, and have an actual connection with someone. When we are immersed in our phones, it is hard to decipher people's emotions and intentions. Similarly, individuals can hide behind a screen to face their problems rather than face them like adults. Children's vocabulary is becoming meaningless with the slang and phrases that are used every day, as well as the influence social media has on them.
Even though it may seem like I am focusing on the bad, technology has given us the power to communicate with those who we are not able to due to distance or disabilities. In saying that, we need to hold onto values like communication with one another and not get lost in the sea of technology. While technology is faulty and can sometimes not be reliable, a conversation in person with someone is always guaranteed.
References
The Bottom Line, By, & Line, T. B. (2012, January 25). Technology is destroying the quality of human interaction - the bottom line UCSB. The Bottom Line UCSB -. https://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2012/01/technology-is-destroying-the-quality-of-human-interaction
This is an amazing post! I was also born in 2003, so I understand where you are coming from. I must say I most likely fall into that statistic of 7/10 people being invested in their phone and this post gave me a lot of new information.
ReplyDeleteYou had so many good points in this blog! I definitely think that technology negatively impacts social skills and knowledge, especially for younger generations who are consumed by their devices. Genuine in-person conversations hold more value and should not be replaced by screens. Abbreviated language and slang further contribute to a decline in vocabulary. Balancing technology usage with face-to-face interactions is crucial to preserving social skills and knowledge. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThe dependence and addictive relationships we have for our phones is concerning, the stimulus from social media is designed to keep us glued to our screens, preventing us from engaging with the rest of the world. I hypothesize that newer generations will show widespread social-media-induced ADHD- and autism-like symptoms along with general social disability.
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