Smartphones and the profound effect they have on interpersonal communication
Today there is a new plague that’s sweeping the nation and “melting” the brains of the future generation, they are called smartphones. I am confident that I am not the only kid who got a speech from his parents, reminiscing and lamenting about the “good ole’ days” when they were kids. During the “good ole’ days” if adolescents wanted to connect with each other, they actually had to walk to another friend’s house and knock on the door. Long gone are the days of parents fearfully waiting for their child to get home from a party, long after curfew. Smartphones changed the way interpersonal communications are handled and more importantly, have changed people’s perception …show more content…
Communication, one of the most important and basic skill sets to have. It is an essential building block of life and without it, we would not exist. Without good communication, it can drastically affect a person’s life. It can ruin marriages, personal relationships and possible job opportunities. But, the great part about communicating is that it is a skill. This means everyone can develop good communication skills or improve upon them. When we communicate between two people, it is called interpersonal communication. We communicate with other people, each and every day, even when we stop speaking, we are still communicating with others. When we do this, we are sending out non-verbal information to others about our own well-being. It can tell another person about our facial expressions, which allow us to express our emotions without using any words, if we are happy, sad, angry and calm. Non-verbal communication, also includes: eye contact, body posture, proximity, tone and pitch regarding your voice (12). Non-verbal communication is an integral part of communications. But the study of psychology is another aspect of communication, which can be used to explain the psychological motives behind the innate urge to connect with other …show more content…
There are two basic motives behind smartphone usage. They are defined as Intrinsic and Instrumental motives. According to scholars listed from 15-17 in the references page; “Intrinsic or social motives refer to communicating with others through the telephone for the purpose of companionship and instrumental or task oriented motives refer to the use of the telephone for utility, for example, information seeking or making appointments” (References 15-17, Borea 612). Furthermore, Leung and Wei have “uncovered” other motives that can be linked to smartphone use. These motives include mobility, immediacy and social status (Leung and Wei, Borea 612). Most people assume these motives are behind the use of cellphones, but according to Leung and Wei, these motives are actually related to carrying or buying the phone, rather than using them to communicate through (Leung and Wei, Borea 612). Louis Leung obtained his degree at the University of Texas at Austin. He has published numerous articles relating to the study of communications (8). Dr. Ran Wei, obtained his PH.D in mass communications at Indiana University. He has been praised for achieving multiple awards for his research (15).The main motive why people use their phone is to communicate with others, regardless of time and place. Researchers observed that the majority of
Today there is a new plague that’s sweeping the nation and “melting” the brains of the future generation, they are called smartphones. I am confident that I am not the only kid who got a speech from his parents, reminiscing and lamenting about the “good ole’ days” when they were kids. During the “good ole’ days” if adolescents wanted to connect with each other, they actually had to walk to another friend’s house and knock on the door. Long gone are the days of parents fearfully waiting for their child to get home from a party, long after curfew. Smartphones changed the way interpersonal communications are handled and more importantly, have changed people’s perception …show more content…
Communication, one of the most important and basic skill sets to have. It is an essential building block of life and without it, we would not exist. Without good communication, it can drastically affect a person’s life. It can ruin marriages, personal relationships and possible job opportunities. But, the great part about communicating is that it is a skill. This means everyone can develop good communication skills or improve upon them. When we communicate between two people, it is called interpersonal communication. We communicate with other people, each and every day, even when we stop speaking, we are still communicating with others. When we do this, we are sending out non-verbal information to others about our own well-being. It can tell another person about our facial expressions, which allow us to express our emotions without using any words, if we are happy, sad, angry and calm. Non-verbal communication, also includes: eye contact, body posture, proximity, tone and pitch regarding your voice (12). Non-verbal communication is an integral part of communications. But the study of psychology is another aspect of communication, which can be used to explain the psychological motives behind the innate urge to connect with other …show more content…
There are two basic motives behind smartphone usage. They are defined as Intrinsic and Instrumental motives. According to scholars listed from 15-17 in the references page; “Intrinsic or social motives refer to communicating with others through the telephone for the purpose of companionship and instrumental or task oriented motives refer to the use of the telephone for utility, for example, information seeking or making appointments” (References 15-17, Borea 612). Furthermore, Leung and Wei have “uncovered” other motives that can be linked to smartphone use. These motives include mobility, immediacy and social status (Leung and Wei, Borea 612). Most people assume these motives are behind the use of cellphones, but according to Leung and Wei, these motives are actually related to carrying or buying the phone, rather than using them to communicate through (Leung and Wei, Borea 612). Louis Leung obtained his degree at the University of Texas at Austin. He has published numerous articles relating to the study of communications (8). Dr. Ran Wei, obtained his PH.D in mass communications at Indiana University. He has been praised for achieving multiple awards for his research (15).The main motive why people use their phone is to communicate with others, regardless of time and place. Researchers observed that the majority of