There are many different facets in which we show our desire to understand and connect. Digital media is gradually creating new ways to create relationships, changing the way we communicate in the process.
Elton B. Stephens Company (EBSCO), the Media Richness Theory (MRT) says, the medium we use to communicate, whether face-to-face or precomposed, contributes to how we connect, as well as their varied effectiveness.
It was found that as media types evolve to better suit connection, they have become increasingly preferable by young adults. This is partially due to the anxieties of face-to-face conversation, and how one can formulate their ideas hidden behind a media type.
There is so much more to a person than what they outwardly express, things you are not going to be able to access. When we see the harmonic pieces of two people, it can be hard to see the hidden parts of a person, leading to misunderstandings.
Navigating through relationships mindfully is what will determine whether or not that effect will be negative or positive.
Specifically, in Generation Z, communicating through media is more prevalent. Being immersed in technology is changing the way we communicate. Yet, texting is not going to compare to looking someone in the eyes and telling them about your day. Face-to-face communication is something we are devolving from true raw connection is not being prioritized as much as the ones we have manufactured.
As stated by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the immediacy of nonverbal communication that is received in an interpersonal interaction provides an essential base for structuring a connection with one another. The absence of visual cues in media-centered communication is dissipating the value of a conversation and therefore contributing to a weaker relationship.
The desire to get to know someone is truly beautiful, to not see them through a lens that they have created, but instead from your own efforts. Being genuinely curious about who someone is, and feeling as though you know them, is more intimate than anything. You should want someone to know you for the person you are, without trying to be a person at all. People try to break themselves down to almost nothing to become more desirable, when in actuality society craves that pureness that is honesty.
Through virtual interactions, there is a loss of clear tone and structure, which facilitates miscommunications.
The slightest amount of words can be so evocative; the way in which you enunciate every letter, how you position yourself, and look at one another defines how you create meaning and manipulate the conversation. Talking to someone is so intimate, choosing the words you want them to hear to reflect how you are feeling. There is so much that goes into communication and how it forms attachment. Having an understanding of one another is so powerful to share because of how rare it is.
In people’s minds, there are variants of you everywhere, fragments of who you were for a day or a moment. Yet, when you are speaking to someone, it is almost like there is no time in existence at all; it is just two beings and the words that you reflect to one another. Connection is an art that can not be perfected, yet it is perfect.
In a study performed by Kostadin Kushlev, which was researching how relationships are affected by both forms of communication, it was found that participants felt a worse connection with one another when digital communication was implemented beside face-to-face, rather than exclusively face-to-face communication.
Although having a strong feeling of connection in person, the participants felt as though the comparison of digital media communication felt weakening to the relationship that was already there. This allows the viewpoint of how comparison allows insecurity to form in relationships.
Even if you are not able to get to know someone easily, it is a part of the structure of being able to build connections. Putting that effort into knowing someone is something that you no longer see through social media. There is simply not as much assurance that comes from texting someone in comparison to having a conversation.
In the Forbes article “Rekindling Humanity: Finding Personal Connection In A Digital World” by Curt Steinhorst, it mentions the alteration digital communication has on our attention span. The distraction of doing things in between a conversation, instead of having your whole attention focused on a conversation, will weaken that attachment.
The amount of focus and understanding you gain in comparison to an interpersonal and digital conversation coincides with this alienation that comes with not being able to feel as though you are being listened to. An immediate response that occurs in an interpersonal conversation queues our mind to process how we want to proceed, and whether or not to change our tone to better tailor to that person.
We are losing the ability to be grateful for connection in general. We isolate ourselves so much through fearing being perceived as anything, and it disrupts the desire for human connection. It dismisses our need to love and share endearment in any form. Being vulnerable, and the fear that coincides with that, is preventing further advancement in our society as we reject that closeness.
