How Technology Affect Human Interaction? - Paper Example

Introduction

Over the years, technology has revolutionized human lives as well as the way humans carryout their day-day-day activities. Actually, technology has played a critical role in improving the quality of human lives throughout history. Consequently, technology has been termed as one of the most revolutionary aspects of human civilization. However, technology has always had some negative effects on humans and human life. For example, as seen in today's society, communications and interactions between humans have improved significantly. However, the improvement of the current communication technologies has had some adverse effects on human interactions (Gil de Zuniga, Jung, & Valenzuela, 2012). This paper argues that the current communication technologies and inventions such as social media have affected human interactions and relationships adversely.

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The advent of the internet was one of the most significant steps in the development of communication technologies. The internet played a crucial role in reducing the costs of communications and promoting efficiency within various communication channels. Before the advent of the internet, communications were considerably costly and time consuming, especially when the parties involved were located in different geographical locations. Consequently, human interactions were inefficient and the high costs of communications made it very difficult to maintain meaningful relations between and among different parties. The implementation of internet technologies eliminated these inefficiencies and brought the world closer together (Steinfield, Ellison & Lampe, 2008). People could communicate at low costs regardless of the physical distance between them. With this information in mind, it is highly perceptible that the internet and internet based communications channels improved the quality of human interactions and relationships significantly.

Moving on, the development of the internet technologies formed the foundations upon which the current communications technologies were formed. For example, social media and networking platforms are based on web 2.0 technologies. These technologies facilitate real time sharing of information and data, which subsequently allows people to communicate with others in real time regardless of the physical distance between them. While this is a major advantage in terms of improving the process of communication, it has affected interpersonal relationships adversely (Steinfield, Ellison & Lampe, 2008). The efficiency of the current communication channels has led to internet addiction considering the fact that people can develop relationships with a high number of people and communicate with them in real time. Additionally, as people continue sharing information and exchanging ideas through these platforms, they tend to neglect their interpersonal relationships.

The argument above illustrates the fact that people tend to forget the value of interpersonal relations as they become addicted to internet based communication platforms. Actually, social media and networking technologies create higher levels of loneliness among people. Considering the fact that social networking platforms allow people to communicate and share ideas with other people from other places in the world, it is easy for users to gain interests about new ideas and experiences. Consequently, users of social networking platforms tend to ignore interpersonal relationships and seek to gain further knowledge about new places and experiences from other geographical regions (Gil de Zuniga, Jung, & Valenzuela, 2012). With this in mind, it is evident that users of social networking platforms may become even lonelier as they seek to develop deeper relationships with their fellow users of social media since the networks and platforms do not provide the benefits of interpersonal communications and relationships.

Additionally, current research indicates that acceptance and usage of online communication platforms will grow and expand by 40-50% over the next five years. This statement indicates that internet adoption and usage will expand significantly over the next decade. This expansion will be crucial in ensuring that people communicate even more efficiently and enjoy the benefits of internet communication platforms. However, considering the problem of internet addiction and the breakdown in interpersonal communications, it is arguable that the growth in the adoption of internet communication platforms will consequently lead to higher levels of loneliness among societies (Parasuraman, Sheridan, & Wickens, 2010). In essence, one can argue that the differences between interpersonal communications and internet communications will increase and this will subsequently lead to poor interactions between and among human beings and groups.

Conclusion

In summation, technological advancements and developments have played a monumental role in promoting the quality of human life. Actually, technologies such as the development of internet based communication platforms have been pivotal in ensuring that people stay in touch regardless of the physical distance between the communicating parties. For instance, conventional communication platforms were limited to the provision of communication services through other media such as physical delivery of the messages. However, the development of social networking and media platforms has played a critical role in promoting real time communications and thereby ensuring that people can share information and ideas within the reasonable periods. In essence, conventional communication platforms made it considerably difficult for people to share and exchange ideas and information. Actually, it was extremely costly to share information and data between people who were in different geographical locations. However, the disadvantages of the current communications channels and platforms outweigh their advantages considering the fact that they have created a lonelier generation in the notion of promoting connectedness among people and generations.

References

Gil de Zuniga, H., Jung, N., & Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social media use for news and individuals' social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 319-336.

Parasuraman, R., Sheridan, T. B., & Wickens, C. D. (2010). A Model for Types and Levels of Human Interaction with Automation. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS-PART A: SYSTEMS AND HUMANS, 30(3).

Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 434-445.