How Technology is Affecting Social Skills - Essay Sample

Introduction

The scene of people immersed in their digital devices has become a familiar sight all around the world (Liberty Classical Academy, par 1). As technology continues to advance and social media platforms emerge, people are increasingly interconnecting through these channels and losing the interpersonal connection. Technology has enabled people to connect with peers from all corners of the world through their phones, computers, and laptops. Expressions have been replaced by the predesigned emojis that are part of these social media platforms. This trend implies that people are losing valuable social skills such as managing eye contact, keeping a conversation, attention span, among others (Campbell, par 1). Although technology has increased the degree of interaction of people, it has dramatically affected their social skills since the connection occurs through the keyboard.

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Eye Contact

According to an article by Liberty Classical Academy (par 1) on how social media affects social skills, one of the skills affected is eye contact. The knowledge on how to sustain eye contact and its appropriateness is a crucial skill. Eye contact contributes to over 40 percent of the attention focused on people. Therefore, it plays a vital role in developing emotional connections and can be used to influence others. However, the amount of time spent staring into the content provided by technology is enormous hence limiting the use of eye contact. This also includes time spent watching television and on mobile phones.

Conversation Skills

Danielle Campbell of American International College (par 1) is also of the opinion that technology is hurting social skills, especially among children. She argues that communication skills have significantly declined because of technology. Her article blames increased texting as a reason for shrinking communication and socializing skills. Children result in these antisocial communication practices instead of establishing personal interaction with others. Similarly, Liberty Classical Academy (par 5) expresses the concern of young people lacking conversation skills. These skills entail listening to others, asking about others, and the ability to read physical cues. The constant impulse to keep looking at their screens creates the impression of disinterest in the current conversation.

Attention Span

Attention span is another social skill that has been ruined by the increased use of technology. The readily available distraction provided by technology has led to a reduced attention span. Proper social skills require an individual to know when to pay attention and focus. The article by Liberty Classical Academy ( par 7) cites the research of concentration by Microsoft Corporation that indicates the attention span of humans has in a decade decreased from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. The heavy consumption of technology affects the ability of consumers to filter out irrelevant stimuli, thus leads to increased distraction. Also, the article attributes the decrease in concentration span to the growing ubiquity of technology.

Conclusion

In conclusion, technology is leading to the death of social skills. The impact has been mainly as a result of changing the way people interact. Texting has been particularly a major cause of the decline in social skills since people have replaced other forms of communication with sending short messages. Besides communication, people are also increasing spending their time drawn to technology instead of engaging in interpersonal interaction with others. However, perhaps this trend might give rise to a new form of social skills where people value texting and prefer to have their space. But before such a time, it is evident that technology is hurting social skills and might be causing people to drift further from each other than it is connecting people.

Work Cited

Campbell, Danielle. "Children Losing Social Skills Due To Technology." The Odyssey Online, 9 May 2016, www.theodysseyonline.com/children-losing-social-skills.

Liberty Classical Academy. "How Technology Affects Your Social Skills." Liberty Classical Academy, 1 Nov. 2018, libertyclassicalacademy.org/technology-affects-social-skills/.