Sample Argumentative Essay On Social Media Vs Communication

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Introduction
The social media refers to the social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, PinInterest, etc. These social media websites are designed to connect people socially with one another so they can interact and share their views together. Hence, the growing trend of social media has increased the customer traffic and the attraction towards these networks. This is more of a digital word of mouth phenomenon as compared to the face-to-face communication through which people used to interact and communicate with one another (Shama, p.10). There is no doubt that the Twitter, PinInterest and most importantly Facebook can be used as a powerful medium to connect with your distant family, colleagues, and friends and even meet people through blogs and various social groups and pages but this new medium of interaction have taken away from us the influential means to communicate with one each other, meet our friends face-to-face and interact with them. Hence, the age of social media communication has distanced us from our relationships and has eventually reduced the opportunity for people to meet and communicate with each other like before (Shama, p.10).

Arguments against social media and the impact on communication

The rising trend in social media is impacting the kids that are focused towards more on the use of technology rather than developing face-to-face communication. In an article published in the Wall Street Journal in 2009 that an average teen sends and receives over 2000 text messages and spends at least nine hours in a week on the social network sites like Facebook, etc. This trend has left the expert worried that these social media networks have reduced the personal relationships in which the people meet with each other and develop face-to-face communication. It can be assumed that with the rising trend in social media, the face-to-face interaction and human gatherings have taken a back seat and they have focused more upon a detached and impersonal form of communication with their friends (Bauerlein, p.2).
The main concern with this form of communication that when people rely on and focus more on the short messages through Facebook, Twitter etc. even though the general message is conveyed, but they tend to miss out on the significant facial expressions and face-to-face communication. The smiley faces that are sent during messages and communication via the social media networks does not provide an opportunity to see the smile on the actual face. This means that people who are addicted to communicating via social media fail to learn and experience the intricacy of the facial expressions of eye movements. These people are ignorant of the physical motions of others and miss out on the tones and words associated with the verbal communication and the cues that are significant to learn through life experiences. The kind of children that we as a society are now raising cannot carry on a simple conversation or for that matter even maintain an eye contact (Bauerlein, p.2).
The frequent usage of the social media networks at work can also impact the worker productivity level. As stated in a report published by Trisha (p.9) that frequent usage of the Internet and the social media networks can negatively impact the productivity levels of the employees as they spend their valuable time that should be spent working is wasted on social media networking. Even the workplaces where the provision of technology is of utmost significance to complete the task, these companies are also struggling with the negative effects of the social media network during the work timings. The most unconstructive impact is that team meetings where there are just a couple of attendees have become completely worthless as most of the time the Wifi’s are on and the attendees are busy checking their Facebook messages and news feed rather than listening to the presenter (Trisha, p.9).
The rise in social media networking as compared to the face-to-face communication is far reaching impact. According to the Nicholas David, who is an assistant professor at West Virgina University that when an online relationship is not functioning the impact is the same as the lost relationship in the real life but the difference is that the modality has changed. This can be explained through an example that the cyber-bullying has almost the same background, emotional impact, consequence and behavioral changes that non-cyber bully has but the only difference is that the social media cyber-bullying is one factor which cannot be avoided as it gets public, more contacts become aware of it and it goes viral among your friend lists (Keller, p.10). In a non-social media bullying the person who is being bullied can escape from the place temporarily where he is being bullied for example, if the student is bullied in the school playground he can go back home or to some other area of the school. On the other hand, in the social media bullying there is no escape or turn around as the bullying communication does not stay at one place and follow the student home as well. In fact, whenever he will interact via the social media network, he will come across the bullying issue until and unless it is forgotten by the public.
Since the social media network is a part of our everyday life like the human beings around us and as it’s a main medium nowadays to keep in touch with friends and family members, the privacy intrusion is the major problem in this regard. According to Bo Fu (p.3) the privacy issue becomes a major issue in the current age, and people can easily intrude on others privacy easily through Facebook and other social media networking sites. This can become a major issue when the users are mainly targeted to their ethical background, location, age, gender and this can also lead to kidnapping, rape and murder cases. In many cases, people who open their online accounts in these social media networking sites they tend to hide their true identities and technically make fake accounts. This typically harms the younger generation who can get misled easily by these types of people. This result in online scams, issue of harassment and cyber stalking (Bo Fu, p.3).

Rebuttal of the thesis argument

Although there are some negative attributes developed from social media it is not all bad. Some people prefer to communicate through social media. Social media are considered to be time effective and easier way to communicate in both personal lives and in business terms as well as for the educational purposes. The important information can be accessed, and any message can be sent at the click of the button. This is considered to be an added advantage from other means of communication which takes publishing time and have a fewer viewership now since the advent of the social media. Even though the updates and news is available via television and print media but the social media connection and communication level is impromptu information and it is the connection with the public that matters the most for all (Trisha, p.9). Another benefit of social media network apart from the easy access is that it is a cheapest medium of communication for both business and personal use as it is almost free, unlike the other forms of communication such as print or electronic mediums where a certain of money has to be paid for the news items has to get published.

Conclusion

Although social media may be a great new way to communicate and connect with people, it's still not as good as interacting in person with someone. There is no doubt that the Twitter, PinInterest and most importantly Facebook can be used as a powerful medium to connect with your distant family, colleagues, and friends, but this new medium of interaction have taken away from us the influential means to communicate with one each other, meet our friends face-to-face and interact with them. Hence, the age of social media communication has distanced us from our relationships and has eventually reduced the opportunity for people to meet and communicate with each other like before. The rising trend in social media is impacting the kids that are focused towards more on the use of technology rather than developing face-to-face communication.

Work Cited

Bauerlein Mark, Why Gen-Y Johnny Can't Read Nonverbal Cues, The Wall Street Journal, (Sept, 2009), p.2. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203863204574348493483201758
Bo Fu, and Declan O Sullivan, Trust Management in Online Social Networks. In Proceedings: the 7th IT&T Conference, Digital Convergence in a Knowledge Society, (2007), p. 3.
Maura Keller, Social Media and Interpersonal Communication, Social Work Today (May-June 2013), Vol. 13 No. 3, p. 10.
Shama Kabani, The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz and Increase Revenue, (2013), Ben Bella books, Business and Economic, p.10.
Trisha Dowerah Baruah, Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 5, (May 2012), p.9.