Free Essay about Social Media and Its Effects on Interaction Patterns

The modern technology has come up with many changes in the way people interact and exchange ideas. The use of social media has sparked off many discussions regarding the effects of social media on human interaction. The current section analyzes the use of social media and its effects on interaction patterns.

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On a personal capacity, I have used social media platforms for about five years. Facebook was the first site I joined in my early teen years. I am a frequent user of these social media sites, and I spend most of my time on them. Approximately, I spend more than three-quarter hours of a day on social media sites. However, the use of social media platforms makes one deficient in specific issues. Among them is group socialization. In this case, one cannot adequately fit in a social group as the skills and qualities of socialization lack. Although it is easy to use social media interactions, there are things that online interactions do not meet. For instance, the use of social media such as Facebook for dating purposes provides a sense of social bond. However, face-to-face is more intense as it provides a sense of closeness. It makes face-to-face a better interaction method than any other.

What are some positives and negatives of face-to-face contact that are absent in social media contact? What are some positives and negatives of social media contact that are absent in face to face contact?

Face-to-face is characterized by specific advantages that are non-existent when using social media contact. One of them is the urge to appeal and convince during a communication pattern. For instance, it is easy to convince and persuade. In a social media case, this is not as serious as it is seen when communication is physical. In addition, the face-to-face conversation is right in that it is not prone to misunderstandings experienced in social media. However, there are huge expenses that are incurred to effect the face-face conversation especially if the parties involved come from far.

The use of social media has benefits such that no huge costs are involved for people to meet and converse. In addition, it saves on time that one would have traveled to meet and communicate. However, the sites have a limitation in that they are addictive and without them, one feels bored. In addition, they are used as crime planning sites and recruiting stations.

Granovetter's Measure of Strong and Weak Ties and How to Classify Social Media Friends

Granovetter classifies social media users depending on their ties to these sites. The classification begins with one having strong ties, then to in-between who is a moderate user and ends with a weak user (Huzsti & Vajda, 2013). With this categorizing grade, I would categorize my social media friends as having strong ties.

Brignall And Van Valey Use Social Theory On The Future Impact Of Internet Communication

The authors speculate that the internet and social media usage will dominate the world of interactions. One of the truths that are evident here is that Gen Y is a technology-based population. However, the authors appeared to go wrong by calling for abrupt changes in the hiring sectors (Bignall & Valey, 2005). The areas that are inconclusive refer to the fate of those who are born at this time and cannot access computer services. The aspect does not address this issue.

References

Brignall III, T. W., & Van Valey, T. (2005). The impact of internet communications on social interaction. Sociological Spectrum, 25(3), 335-348.

Huszti, E., David, B., & Vajda, K. (2013). Strong tie, weak tie, and in-betweens: A continuous measure of tie strength based on contact diary datasets. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 79, 38-61.