What is one of the biggest potential barriers to developing and maintaining any person’s social relationships with others? Most experts would agree that ineffective (or absent) communication plays a major role in preventing people from interacting well with their peers and anyone else they might encounter. Over the last few centuries, many changes have been made to modes of communication in the hopes of improving human’s interaction with one another. From establishing written word, sending smoke signals, telegraphs, carrier pigeons, telephones, newspapers, and email, among many other advances, history has shown that people persist in their search for faster and better ways of getting their messages across. As newer forms of communication have emerged, however, older ones—predictably—continue to fall by the wayside. Much to the chagrin of (neo-) luddites both alive and long deceased, such communicative technologies as the Pony Express and AIM Chat have fallen out of favor (and into oblivion), paving the way for fresher and sleeker products to crop up in their wake.
The 1980s were and interesting decade, full of leg warmers, hair mousse, and multiple Michael Jackson faces. The year 1983, in particular, was an especially important one; it was then that the first commercially available mobile phone was thrust into the market. The advent of the cellular
telephone has proven to be both a bane and a boon to perhaps billions of people the world over. Cell phone owners and non-users alike—from scientists down to second graders (and their parents)—have lauded these devices for their ability to connect people and to keep them in touch with one another, even when the person on either end of the radio link is thousands of miles away from the other. Though a major reason cell phones were created was to enhance people’s ability to communicate, one of their functions—distraction—has recently been coming under fire.
Certain child psychologists are now starting to fear that youth's ability to be entertained by gadgets at all times, from smart phones to PSPs, is having a negative affect on their ability to communicate. The researchers argue that today's youth no longer have to suffer through awkward pauses in conversation or struggle to strike up small-talk on the bus, since they can rely on new forms of technology to engage in instead. According to some, this fact is leading not only to children having worse communication skills, but also to a decline in face-to-face interactions overall. It might be an extreme view to think that in the future, even immediate family members will communicate primarily through third-party devices, but some doomsday analysts don't think that this reality is too far off.
telephone has proven to be both a bane and a boon to perhaps billions of people the world over. Cell phone owners and non-users alike—from scientists down to second graders (and their parents)—have lauded these devices for their ability to connect people and to keep them in touch with one another, even when the person on either end of the radio link is thousands of miles away from the other. Though a major reason cell phones were created was to enhance people’s ability to communicate, one of their functions—distraction—has recently been coming under fire.
Certain child psychologists are now starting to fear that youth's ability to be entertained by gadgets at all times, from smart phones to PSPs, is having a negative affect on their ability to communicate. The researchers argue that today's youth no longer have to suffer through awkward pauses in conversation or struggle to strike up small-talk on the bus, since they can rely on new forms of technology to engage in instead. According to some, this fact is leading not only to children having worse communication skills, but also to a decline in face-to-face interactions overall. It might be an extreme view to think that in the future, even immediate family members will communicate primarily through third-party devices, but some doomsday analysts don't think that this reality is too far off.
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