Constantly Connected: What are the Biggest Challenges to Communication?

Connor Biddulph

doi:10.5920/fields.575

Abstract

Social media (SM) are websites and applications which allow individuals to engage in social networking (Stevenson, 2010). This allows for friends and family to stay connected (Gemmill & Peterson, 2006), thus changing the dynamics of communication between people. However, little has been documented on the effect SM use has had on face-to-face communication. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with university students to explore how the use of SM has changed face-to-face communication. Additionally, whether the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) impacted on social interaction, and how university students’ understanding of this phenomenon was also explored. Findings from this study show that SM use has varying effects on face-to-face communication ranging from an effect on the relationship between individuals in the conversation, to an effect in the context of a social situation. This led to identification of a social etiquette for using SM in face-to-face communication. Links to social constructionist theory, as well as FoMO, were also identified in this research. Further research into the effect of FoMO on face-to-face communication and how SM use influences face-to-face communication skills would be beneficial.

Highlights

Social media (SM) are websites and mobile applications that allow users to engage in social networking; this can be through creating and sharing content as well as through communication (Stevenson, 2010)
The findings indicated that media multitasking had a negative effect on cognitive well-being, such as lower grade point average (GPA) and lower lecture performance
Impact on personal relationships Participants were asked about their SM use when they were with other people

Summary

Introduction

Social media (SM) are websites and mobile applications that allow users to engage in social networking; this can be through creating and sharing content as well as through communication (Stevenson, 2010). People are shown to use SM in public and in the company of other people (Wang, Ki & Kim, 2017), meaning that SM is merging into the daily lives of many, especially students. There is a lack of research on how this communication technology impacts upon face-to-face communication. The use of SM in face-to-face communication is known to exist, most of the research data is quantitative (Abel, Buff & Burr, 2016; Vorderer, Krömer & Schneider, 2016). Our understanding of the meaning behind the act of using SM in face-to-face communication is still limited (Ritchie et al, 2014). The fear of missing out has a documented presence in SM use with students (Hetz, Dawson & Cullen, 2015)

Methods

Results

Conclusion