Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Enhancing Society by Enhancing Social Skills

Digital media is hindering communication skills and relationships. Pictured here is my boyfriend AJ and I "segregated" by all this technology that has come out, and me being distracted by it. Do your digital devices do this to a loved one like a family member, spouse, boy/girlfriend, or a friend? If so, change it! (click on the picture to read)

Digital media is hurting civilization, the world me and you live in. Our world is so absorbed in the media and technology that it is almost impossible to find a place on earth that has not been impacted by media. I think it is a good idea to not put put away technology completely, but put aside this digital media because it is hurting social relationships, and in turn, hurting the social skills that the younger generation needs to enhance our society. These are the foundation of what makes a civilization. Karl Marx said that society is basically a sum of interpersonal relationships, and one great way to do that is to help the younger generation talk to each other face-to-face.

The start of digital media started with the following events:
  • In the early centuries, church leaders started hand-writing books to preach from. Missionaries needed these books to teach as well, and to give to the people.
  •  The printing press came out, which helped distribute all these books to people.
  • In the twentieth century, different forms of book culture started to come out, using the latest technology. These evolved to the media we have today.
(Below: a video of me presenting my argument.)
Civilization became so reliant new technologies, like the ones listed above, that it shaped society. In my opinion, this all started with the invention of the book. And that new technology allowed people to read from devices, and that started this huge influx of mass media that we have today, and how said mass media is hindering people from really talking to each other. While talking with my boyfriend about this, he said that this book evolution was the start of all this digital media since books were the original form or writing, and books were the precursor to other portable forms of escapism like cell phones, video games, etc.

Communication now is largely given by means of mass media, be it Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, text message, phones, etc., and that is pretty much how our culture works and communicates now, mainly on the very personal scale with phones and tablets. Civilization has changed in that we now communicate with all this mass media mostly, and face-to-face communication has been hindered. This very compelling video very much highlights my point on how we need to put down our phones and devices so we can focus on those around us.

I also found a TED talk by Sherry Turkle (above), who talks about how media is taking us places that we do not want to go, and how we're creating trouble because we do not know how to relate to each other. She said that she talked to people and said that they need to keep eye contact while texting, and her daughter and her friends "being together without being together" because they are on their phones. She even quoted a young man who said, "Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I would like to learn how to have a conversation." Digital media is preventing the younger generation from enhancing the social skills that they need in order to communicate.



Interpersonal relationships and good communication skills are what makes up a society. When this mass digital culture came in, these relationships and communication skills were hindered because it is on the personal level that a civilization starts, and with that foundation being hurt, civilization is hurt. I think digital media is a great thing, and you may as well, but it should not get in the way of these face-to-face personal relationships that make that solid foundation for a great community and civilization.

Now let's out our phones down and enhance our personal relationships and communication skills. Let's save society!

2 comments:

  1. Well done. To recap, I think your claim is that social media ruins social skills. But now what? What should we do about it? I think just a simple call to action would be helpful.

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  2. I really liked your post! I love that it pretty much has all of the things necessary for our final draft. It is great to see how all of these different aspects, the ted talk, history reference and personal angle really do make a great impact. This post helped me see how important it is to use all of these angles and by doing so our posts, like yours can become really well rounded.

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