Technology and Social Interaction

        There is no doubt that technology has changed and influenced social interaction today, especially with the younger generation.  As technology has advanced it has made the world a much smaller place to live.  Sending a letter used to take weeks before it would arrive at its destination where today an email takes just seconds to send across the world.  In this way technology has had an extremely positive impact on society allowing companies to have face to face discussions and conference calls with another half way around the world.  While these advances have made a positive impact, it also has its downside.  With everything available online, from shopping to meeting people there is no reason to ever leave the house. 

 Technology has made so many advancements over the past few decades, including the cell phone, which for most people today is a smartphone, with capabilities such as going on the internet, taking videos, pictures, accessing social networks such as facebook and even watching live sports games all with the click of a button.  The internet also allows us to buy and sell items without going to a store while still getting interaction with others.   Ebay and Craigslist are two examples of this.  

Although sites such as eHarmony and match.com do bring people together, I do not personally believe that they can bring two people together in a way that personal interaction does.  There is something to be said for meeting someone and having face to face conversation with them.  I do not believe that meeting someone online is a way to truly create a meaningful relationship, how much can you really tell from a picture?  I believe that as a society we do need to work on creating new places for people to connect and interact.

It seems that the value of a true face to face, meaningful conversation has diminished over the past few years.  My mom is a professor to graduate physical therapy students at the University of Puget Sound and often talks about how she has a hard time communicating with her students because they do not know how to properly communicate to her in person.  They would rather use email or other forms of technology.  The ability to have a conversation face to face with someone is a quality that the younger generations need to work on, giving presentations in class and going to a job interview are tasks that create lasting impressions.  If you talk in slang and cannot keep eye contact, why should that company hire you?  The ability to have a good conversation and be able to convey an idea is something that will get you places in life.  Presentations are given in companies and if you cannot speak to a crowd or sell your product, how can you expect to be successful?

 Although technology and the spread of the internet has pushed the world into the 21st century and made advancements that we never knew possible, it seems that some applications are being abused and misused by society today.  You hear it everyday, “How did we ever get along without computers and cell phones?”  We may never know this answer, but we know it’s possible.  I personally would rather meet someone in person than over the internet.  Social interaction has taken a hit from the advancements that have been made, but having good social skills is a quality that everyone needs to possess in order to make it in the world today and be truly successful.  That is a skill that you can never learn from a social network online.