Scholarly Arguments

Jovanka Perez

PHI103: Informal Logic (ACL1816G)

Prof. Andrew Stave

April 23, 2018

Social media enhances virtual but hinders real and physical interpersonal relationships

The advent of technology has led to a number of changes in the way that people perform their activities. One of these has been the aspect of relationships that has been greatly influenced with the introduction of social media. In particular, with the availability of the internet, people are able to connect behind their computers through the ability to send messages and photos. They are able to share with their friends and families in a way that one message can reach many people within a short time. Moreover, people are also able to connect with past friends as well as other people whom they did not know before. This therefore means that it has the tendency to enable the individual to make many friends with whom most of the time they do not meet. It is also fast and efficient as a mode of communication. However, the problem is that these interrelationships are not real and may give the individual a false illusion about friendship. In addition to this, it is also clear that some aspects that were associated with relationships that involve physical contact have been interfered with. These include the ability to communicate and even write to the extent that it is no longer to perform these functions appropriately.

Argument 1

There are a number of articles that talk in favor of social media and advocate for its usage based on the several benefits that are likely to be achieved through them. The first article that I was able to access following the search on the importance of social media on building interpersonal relationships is the “gaining a competitive advantage” by Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright. It supports the need to make use of social media to connect with friends with family as it enhances the ability to reach out to them with most of the current social events.

Permise 1: Social Media is used by a lot of people all around the world to stay connected with loved ones and friends and also meet new people that have the same interest as you. Studies reveal that social media makes it possible to connect with others. For instance through Facebook and Twitter, there is the nature of interaction through friends of a wide range of forms that make it possible to share ideas on different platforms.

Premise 2: Pictures, videos, life events (marriage, graduation, birth of a child, etc.), thoughts and feelings and news can be shared with anyone in the world instantly. People are now able to keep their friends and family members updated on the social activities through social media. With these developments, it still becomes possible to keep in touch even without the need for physical contacts.

Conclusion: Social Media can help improve interpersonal relationships by allowing individuals the opportunity to stay connected with friends, media and family near and far at any point in someone’s life. It has become easy for people to not only interact but also share their current memorable moments with others. Friends and family can follow in the progress of individuals and become aware of the many happenings in their lives.

Argument 2

Although this is the case, there are also other articles that find fault in the manner with which relationships are formed and maintained through social media. For instance, in one of the articles that I found about the tendency of social media to hinder interpersonal relationships Engelberg and Sjöberg (2004) show the effects of social media on people as tendency for people to be psychologically and not physically related. This is mainly caused by the fact that people are only able to meet behind their screens and make no effort to engage in other forms of traditional communication.

Premise 1 Social Media is a form of obsession. Continuously scrolling and viewing content can decrease the stimulus in a person, or lack of interest in experiencing the real physical world. Through social media, people are able to make so many friends than they would in the physical aspects. In this case, people tend to think that they have too many friends who can assist or be there at all times. However, they realize that this is not the case in real life.

Premise 2 Viewing the world constantly by only viewing social media, can decrease your verbal and written skills. The use of social media to communicate makes use of written and at times pictorial communication. This affects individuals in the way that some of the important communication skills that were used traditional become affected. Individuals can no longer communicate verbally in an appropriate manner or even write good handwriting.

Conclusion

Social Media can hinder interpersonal relationships with your individual self and others around you. The want to get out and explore the world and have an adventure is replaced by “news stories, snaps, and tweets”. Handwriting is getting very hard to read and people do not speak in proper sentences anymore. The conversations are made up of slang words. In particular although it has made the development of relationships easy and fast, these are only the forms that are created virtually using the keyboard. It has created a distance between close relatives but connection with people who are far away and cannot be of help when needed. Moreover, some of the many friends are not real and would lead to disappointments in some cases. Other elements of traditional relationships are affected in a way that they become difficult to apply and implement. For this reason, the use of social media should not be extensive to the level that they hinder physical relationships and affect other modes of communication.

References

Engelberg, E., & Sjöberg, L. (2004). Internet use, social skills, and adjustment. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(1), 41-47.

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2003). Gaining a competitive advantage. Irwin: McGraw-Hill.