The Problem Statement: Face Time vs. Screen Time
While social media provides easier and more accessible opportunities to interact with others, how we communicate and interact hinders the quality of our interpersonal relationships. The quality of interpersonal relationships is at risk because “as the Internet is becoming more interwoven into daily life, the use of the Internet and/or social media becomes a higher priority” (Porter et al. 8). The usage of social media is deemed more important because users are able to easily interact and communicate with those in their social network by just liking a photo on Instagram or commenting on a post on Facebook. However, this type of online communication and interaction is changing how we think about relationships and how we maintain them. Individuals are no longer using face-to-face interaction to facilitate communication, rather they are depending on social media to do the job. Today, those in romantic relationships are writing on one another’s wall on Facebook to display and express love and affection. College students are frequently checking and updating their social networking sites daily in order to stay connected with friends and family back home. Even in friendships, individuals believe that if you are friends on Facebook or followers on Instagram and Twitter that you are friends in real life. Porter et al. acknowledges that “…these new [communication] technologies makes it extremely possible to become dependent…on them” (8). Milani, Osualdella, and Di Blasio also recognize this and claim that “...it is precisely the social function of the Internet that could explain the dependence on” social media (683). Users are enticed by the idea of easier and convenient ways to keep in touch with family and friends (Sponcil and Gitimu 5), thus individuals are becoming dependent on social media to facilitate communication efforts in their relationships.
As a result, social media can ultimately affect interpersonal relationships when we choose to allow them to control our communication in a relationship. When we become dependent on social media to facilitate communication, there are shifts in relationship maintenance behaviors, misconstrued thoughts about what a true relationship really is , and there are emotional barriers, where there is lack of emotional intimacy. Hence, causing the quality of relationships to deteriorate and “weak ties” in a relationship to develop.
As a result, social media can ultimately affect interpersonal relationships when we choose to allow them to control our communication in a relationship. When we become dependent on social media to facilitate communication, there are shifts in relationship maintenance behaviors, misconstrued thoughts about what a true relationship really is , and there are emotional barriers, where there is lack of emotional intimacy. Hence, causing the quality of relationships to deteriorate and “weak ties” in a relationship to develop.