Social Skills Dwindling

How often do you think you have face to face conversations with someone? I don’t know the percentage of conversations that are face to face, but I would imagine that it is much lower than in the past. The main cause for this lack of face to face interaction? You guessed it, technology. People are beginning to fall into the pattern of texting or emailing rather than actually meeting with someone or actually talking on the phone with them. There is now very limited interaction in everyday life.

Texting is a problem for so many reasons. Yes it is a quicker and easier way to communicate with friends, but it has its downfalls too. Texting diminishes your social skills and hinders you from actively thinking. Can you think of a time where you texted something to someone without thinking first? I can. This is much more avoidable when you actually talk to the person. It is also becoming a huge problem with drivers. Texting while driving is becoming a very substantial problem and causing accidents all of the time.

The main culprits of this technology dependency are teenagers and early adults. They grew up with technology and don’t know any better. Even though they don’t know any better, this is not an excuse to actively continue to live this way. I myself have problems with social interaction, but I think that I have been getting better. My girlfriend kind of showed me that you can’t really go too far in life without talking on the phone or talking to people in person. She’s completely right. Oh and if you're hanging out with someone, try not to text too much. I've also done this in the past, and to those that have been with me when I did I'm sorry. The person won't want to be around you if you text while you're with them instead of talking to them. And plus it's just rude.

Technology isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but too much of it definitely is. The world cannot become dependent on technology just simply because it’s easier because it will take away from our social skills and who we are as human beings. Human interaction should be a big part of your life, and that human interaction will work towards shaping you as a person. Texting takes away from that human interaction and hinders your growing as a person.

Try it out; give your friend a call instead of a text. Actively work towards becoming less dependent on technology that takes away from our social skills. Not only will it be more satisfying for you, but for the other person as well. I know that when I haven’t talked to someone in a while I would rather hear their voice and be actively having a conversation with them. If they were to text me I would likely be multi-tasking and not completely focusing on the conversation. You don’t have to be dependent on technology for everything, so don’t be for your social interaction all of the time.

Note: Multi-tasking may be a topic for the future, so stay tuned.

-Eric Proulx