The Importance Of Communication In Communication

Today more people are able to withstand great distances to be in a relationship with someone special. New cellular apps like FaceTime, Snapchat, and Skype enable partners to see their special someone even if they’re thousands of miles apart. While there are many situations in which these apps can be beneficial some people have come to rely on technology that is actually hurting them in the long run. When people only communicate using technology, people tend to lose face-to-face interaction skills, become dependent on technology, substitute meeting face to face, and hide behind a computer. Therefore, we need to stop barricading ourselves behind a wall of technology or else we will never become comfortable meeting in person. When two people verbally interact, there are many different skills involved that are essential to be noticed throughout the conversation. These skills boil down to one major …show more content…
For example, in Jenna Wortham’s “I Had a Nice Time with You Tonight. On the App.” there is a couple in a long-distance relationship that uses an app to communicate with one another. Wortham talks about one night they are in the same city, “Even when we’re both in the same city for an extended time, we still use them [the apps], albeit to a lesser degree” (396). A situation like this proves that even when we don’t intend to use apps, we still do. This makes me believe that we are either scared to or don’t have the skills to meet face to face. Turkle offers a great example of this. She talks about a seventeen-year-old high schooler named Elaine. Elaine says that she only texts her friends because it, “[L]evels the playing field” by allowing shy people to open up on the screen (Turkle 373). Elaine then continues, “[i]t is a place to hide” (Turkle 374). These are two glaring examples of how people will often avoid meeting face to face with others because of the fear of