Certain ways we communicate now a days, such as via email, text messaging, iChating, face booking, etc. has changed the way that we socialize and interact with one another in a huge way. We now are accustomed to being able to use these mediums to hide from the possibility of having a real face to face meaningful conversation with somebody. I for example, and I know I’m not alone, find it easier and more convenient to get across what I have to say through text or email especially if I may be in an awkward situation or may be bailing on plans with a friend, etc. But as I take a look at my own social skills, I have found that my comfort zone has been limited to the technologies we all are so use to using to communicate now.
I believe that the technology we have grown into and the more technology thats on its way is without a doubt beneficial in many ways and is amazing to look at convenience wise when compared to how things use to get done back before cell phones and email. However, our social skills are growing less and less with each passing minute. We now struggle to have to pick up the phone and talk to someone we barely know. If we need answers and they don’t come from an automated voice system on the other end of the wire we panic a little inside. And we find it easier to just stay in the comfort zones of the technology we are so dependent on that many of us don’t even get out of the house because we simply have everything and everyone we need one email away.
So as wonderful as our smart phones are, i believe with a great passion that technology has been a big player, if not the only player, is the demise of our social skills as we know them.