This essay talks about how technology over the years has affected our communication with each other.

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Jonathan Davila
Professor Dougherty
ENGL 1C
24 September 2012
Communication Deterioration
Throughout time people have always communicated with each other
through words and actions while confronting the other person face to face.
Now times have changed, and technology has caused a decline in our social
skills due to online websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype and using cell
phones to send out text messages instead of calling. In Cooper and Patton’s
book Writing Logically, Thinking Critically, they say that “Language can give
birth to thought, and written language provides a way to refine our thoughts
since, unlike speech, it can be manipulated until it accurately reflects our
thinking” (Cooper and Patton 1). Speaking is an important park of our daily
lives because it gives out an idea we have in our head unlike typing out a
message on a cell phone or online website. Technology has had both a
positive and negative effect on our communication with others. Even though
we have these types of sites and the ability to talk through the phone, we still
do not have face to face communication as much as we used to. Instead people
use online chat, texting, webcam and other technological advances people use
nowadays. Face to face communication is the most important type of
communication because we are able to have an actual person in front of us

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rather than to be staring at a computer screen or a few letter symbols on our
phones.
In our daily lives people use computers to communicate with others
through sites such as Facebook, Skype and Twitter. These sites both have their
benefits and negative effects on how we communicate. In Matt Ritchel’s
article “Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction,” he explains how
younger people nowadays use these forms of technology rather then meeting
up in a public place. Ritchel states that these younger people are “caught
between two worlds, one that is virtual and one with real life demands”
(Ritchel). Some benefits to using these sites are the ability to communicate
with friends who have moved out of state or with family living in another
country. By using this online form of communication, people are able to speak
with one another without being charged any fees unlike using a phone. The
downside to these websites is that people have become less social with people
around them. Instead of going out and meeting up at a coffee shop, they just
go on Facebook and message each other for hours. This has caused people to
stop interacting with their friends and having a good time in the real world.
In the last 50 years, phones have been playing a big role in how we
communicate with others. Phones have been a great way of hearing
someone’s voice and having a conversation without face to face
interaction. In an online article “How Cell Phones Are Killing Face-to-
Face Interactions” by Mark Glaser, he states that, “Whether you are
dating someone, interviewing someone, or just meeting someone for the

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first time, there is a special quality about face-to-face interactions”
(Glaser). With cell phones we lose the ability see the other person’s
expressions to see whether they really mean what they are saying or if
they are saying the truth or just making up lies as they speak. Even
though people still hang out and talk they will spend time looking at
their phones rather then the person they are speaking too. The downfall
to phone communication started with a new technology known as the
cell phone which has had a huge impact on how humans communicate
and this is causing a negative effect on society. Cell phones have also
changed how we talk to one another with texting. Many times now a
person will just send a text rather than take the time to call and actually
talk to a person. Texting also prevents us from expressing emotions
because we send a smiley to someone even though we are mad or sad,
but the other person has no idea how we are feeling. Texting may also
affect how we interact with one another when meeting up in person.
Instead of telling a person you will call them when a arriving at a certain
place most people will just send a text and avoid the conversation.
Texting can be seen as a negative effect because it is destroying our way
of speaking with others and is almost like trying to avoid a person.
Technology has caused a negative effect on the way people
communicate in our everyday lives. Technology has advanced greatly and has
caused many changes in our society. Some examples can be shopping and
when we check in at an airport. Shopping online has become a nationwide

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sensation because rather than going to the store people go online. This affects
our communication greatly because rather than going to the store and asking
questions to a store clerk people just go online to a store website and can just
send a message to a chat box and get a quick response. Airport services have
also changed because a few years back people had to wait in line to speak
with a flight attendant to get our boarding passes and to make sure our flight
would be on time. Now airports have machines in which people just input
their last name or scan your passport and you can print out your boarding
passes without having to interact with anyone. This is a problem because it is
important for us to communicate with everyone even if we do not know the
person because this will help us develop our social skills in life.
The developments of technology have greatly affected our lives in a
negative way and people should realize how the world would be without this
type of technology. If our technology communication sources were one day
destroyed would people start going out or go insane because they have been
living a life where we do not communicate with one another through words
but with symbols instead. A lesson that everyone can learn from today is that
communication is highly important to succeed in life and people should find
ways to speak with another person rather than trying to avoid others by
messaging. People need to realize these facts immediately or our form of
communication will deteriorate and they will no longer socialize with others
in the real world. Remember next time a person decides to send a text or a

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online message to someone just call them instead and meet up in person so
you can communicate with another individual in person.
1162 Words
Work Cited
Cooper, Sheila, and Rosemary Patton. Writing Logically, Thinking Critically.
6th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.
Glaser, Mark. "MediaShift." PBS. Mediashift, 22 Oct. 2007. Web. 17 Sept.
2012. <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/10/how-cell-phones-are-
killing-face-to-face-interactions295.html>.
Richtel, Matt. "YOUR BRAIN ON COMPUTERS; Growing Up Digital,
Wired for Distraction." The New York Times. Jim Wilson, 21 Nov.
2010. Web. 17 Sept. 2012.