Argumentative Essay

Digital Technology Improves Social Interactions

Digital Technology Improves Social Interactions

Unless you have been living under a rock, almost every millennial today has more than one social media account. Social media has become the latest craze among the youth. The birth of social media was brought about by the onset of digital technology such as the internet and smartphones. According to Lupac (2018), digital communication has greatly revolutionized the process of communication among the members of the society. In the past, one would communicate with others using letters or phone calls or the good old fashioned face to face communication. However, today face to face communication tends to be the least used medium of communication. The rampant change in the communication process over a short time has caused great concern in the society. People wonder if digital technology has had a positive or negative effect on the development and improvement of social relationships. Has digital technology served to bring us together or keep us farther apart? There is a bad and a good side to everything. However, digital technology has had a mostly positive effect on social relationships since it has served to improve social relationships in the world.

Digital technology has helped make the communication process easier. In the past, people could only communicate using letters and phone calls within a short range. People from different corners of the world found it almost impossible to communicate. One would endure long waits to pass their message and get a response. However, this came to an end with the onset of digital technology. The invention of smartphones allowed people to have portable communication devices allowing them to communicate with others wherever they were as opposed to using landlines that were located at specific locations. Phone coverage was also increased which allowed people to communicate with others in far geographical locations. The internet was, however, the largest influence on communication. It allowed people from different corners of the world to communicate with each other with ease. The social media sites allow people to participate in group chats and interact with other people in the world. The ease in communication has helped foster social relationships since people in distant locations can communicate freely and promptly (Dwyer, 2007). This helps to build and solidify their bond in spite of the distance between them.

Digital technology also helped different ethnic and racial groups to connect and thereby accept each other. In the past, different cultures barely interacted because of the lack of common ground and the geographical distance between them. This led to the emergence of stereotypes and the rampant racism witnessed in the past. However, today, people from different cultures interact freely with the use of digital technology. One can experience the culture and practices of another cultural group via the internet. The ability to have group chats and discussions over the internet has allowed members of different cultures to speak up and educate each other on their cultures. This has gone far into increasing the acceptance of cultural diversity in the society (Drago, 2015). This has greatly served to reduce any occurrence of cultural discrimination in society and improve the social relationships between different cultural groups, maintaining harmony in the community.

Furthermore, digital technology has served to give people a voice and hash out any injustices in the society, thereby helping to improve social relations between different members of the society. In the past, social injustices were often aired by news media such as newspapers and televisions and even then, there was much discrimination. One great example was how the African Americans in the South were denied a voice to speak out against the evils that went on in the south. The discrimination and inability of some groups to voice their opinion led to social tension in the society. However, this was eliminated by the advancement of digital technology. The internet and social media have provided everyone with a voice to speak out against social injustices that happen in society (Lupac, 2018). People have used this platform to hash out and condemn any injustices occurring in society. One example of the use of this platform is the Black Lives Matter movement that was used to condemn the brutality of the police toward African Americans which had been occurring for quite a while. Social media has become a site where people can raise social issues and resolve them. This has served to eliminate the divide between the members of the society and improve the social relationships between them.

Digital technology has also proven to be a useful tool in networking. Every young professional knows that one can only make great strides in their career if they have a vast network in place. Digital technology has come to help in the networking activities by providing more avenues where young professionals can connect. Nowadays, sites like LinkedIn allows professionals from across the world to connect and work together which has greatly ease the process of networking for young professionals (Drago, 2015).

Some members of society, however, believe that the use of digital technology has not improved the social relationships between people. They believe that digital technology has debunked face to face communication and made communication less personal. Today, many people talk through a screen, whether a smartphone screen or a computer screen. This has removed the human connection between people (Dwyer, 2007). For a bond to be formed between two people, both parties should be able to invest their emotions in the conversation and empathize with the other party. However, communication using digital technology has eliminated this aspect of communication. Also, the preference for using digital technology to communicate rather than face to face communication has served to eliminate authentic human interaction. This has, in the end, resulted in weaker human relations between members of the society.

Another concern is the rampant crimes committed over digital technology. Today, issues such as cyberbullying and manipulation have been on the rise in society. Cyberbullying is a great problem in society and it has led to many teenagers in the society committing suicide. The perpetrators of cyberbullying can carry out these evil acts because they do not experience the negative emotions of their victims (Drago, 2015). When communicating face to face, one is able to notice a change in emotions of the other party and will be careful to use kinder words. However, the use of social media eliminates this crucial part of human interaction and allows people to send negative messages without caring about and experiencing the negative emotions of their victims. Also, the ease of communication brought about by digital technology has made it easier for predators to manipulate their victims. This only serves to worsen social relationships in the society.

To sum up, it is crucial to determine the effects of the rampantly used digital technology on improving social relationships. Digital technology has had both positive and negative effects on the building and improvement of social relationships. Digital technology has helped to ease the process of communication between the parties thus improving social relationships between the parties. Also, it has allowed different cultures to interact and accept their diverse cultures thereby helping to increase social acceptance. It has also allowed different groups in the society to voice out their concerns and hash out differences, bringing the community together, while at the same time making it easier to network. Despite the divisions that digital technology has created in society through cyberbullying and eliminating authentic human interaction, I believe that digital technology has made it easier to build and improve social relationships.

References

Drago, E. (2015). The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, Vol. 6, No. 1: 13-19. Retrieved from https://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/academics/communications/research/vol6no1/02DragoEJSpring15.pdf

Dwyer, C. (2007). Digital Relationships in the "MySpace" Generation: Results from a Qualitative Study. 2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'07), 19-19. doi: 10.1109/HICSS.2007.176

Lupac, P. (2018). Beyond the Digital Divide Inequality in the Information Society. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=fBxtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145&dq=digital+communication+improves+social+relationships&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjS8-_5qMTeAhUHKsAKHZgxAc4Q6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=digital%20communication%20improves%20social%20relationships&f=false

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