Modern communication technologies have revolutionized the way in which we carry out our day to day activities. Hardly any aspect in our modern lives has escaped the influence of these systems. Human social life is one such arena which has experienced the positive and negative influence of modern technology.
Considering the significance effects that these technological advances have had on human communication, I shall through this paper set out to illustrate how modern technology has impacted human communication. This paper shall further discuss whether modern technology has made man a better communicator and whether technology bridges generation gaps or causes a bigger divide. I shall also provide discuss how technology has affected my relationships.
Communication is arguably the corner stone on which any successful relationship, be it business or personal, is built and modern technology has to a large extent improved human being’s communication skills. Over the course of the last two decades, there has been prevalence in the use of online means for communication purposes. Chat rooms have become common place and social networking sites have also gained popularity with sites such as “Facebook” and “twitter” boasting of millions of users.
Online dating has become an acceptable mode for meeting prospective partners. Business corporations have also exploited modern technology and utilize e-mails as well as video conferences for holding business meetings. This “invasion” of human communication by modern technology has greatly improved the communicational effectiveness of human beings.
As such, human beings communicate better as a result of modern technology. This is because modern technology helps people to overcome some of the setbacks that hinder effective communication. For example, in face to face encounters, fear may result in someone stammering or talking in an incoherent manner. Technologies such as chat rooms and emails reduce this fear since one does not feel intimidated by the person they are communicating with.
This lack of direct contact may reduce anxiety levels therefore resulting in an increase of assertiveness and articulation by the person who would otherwise be overcome with fear in a face to face communication. However, the very attributes that make modern technology enhance our communication can also result in a breakdown of communication.
For example, the lack of face to face contact can result in misunderstanding as one fails to see and act upon the non verbal cues that are an integral part of communication. In addition to this, the relative anonymity that technology presents may be abused by some to issue hateful or malicious messages. Despite this, the prevalence of modern technology has mostly fostered communication efforts.
One of the realities of life is that there will always be a generation gap between the younger and older population. This generation gap results in a breakdown of communication as people from both extremes of the divide fail to relate. At the initial stage, modern technology actually aided in the increase of this divide since the younger generation was more receptive to new technology while older people resisted it.
However, there has been a change in this trend with the older generation fully embracing new technology. For example, online dating and blogging sites now have a membership of both young and old. Therefore, modern technology has resulted in the bridging of the generation gap as older members of the population communicate with younger ones on the common platform created through modern technology.
Modern technology and in particular computers has greatly changed my relationships and those of my family members. A particularly significant impact that new technology has had was to my sister who met her husband in one of the chat rooms.
As a result of this online meeting, the two of them got to become friend and in the cause of time, my sister was engaged and later married to the man she met online. Now my sister and her husband have a three year old son all because of modern technology which made their getting together a reality.
Personally, I also make much use of modern technology both for communicational purposes as well as to fulfill other tasks. By use of chatting resources such as “Skype”, I manage to keep in touch with my friends from Russia. I also extensively use e-mails to communicate with my friends, lecturers as well as fellow students. In my opinion, the use of this communication tools assists me to not only pass the message in a timely manner but also to be a better communicator.
From the discussions presented in this paper, it is clear that modern technology has greatly impacted human communication. These changes have mostly been for the better resulting in improved communication among human beings.
However, this paper has also illustrated that there may be hindrances to communication which can arise from the abuse of modern technology in communication efforts by individual. Despite this, the evidence in this paper suggests that modern community is mostly beneficial to human being communication efforts.