When people text all day, what happens to their social skills?

Human continuously invent new ways to communicate and connect. The latest intervention is the Mobile Messaging apps. Smartphone, tablets, laptops or desktop computers can be used to download the mobile messaging apps from the apps stores. Some apps are free, while others need to be purchased.

Mobile Messaging apps had profoundly changed human life. Mobile Messaging apps offer some form of free chatting features, free voice calling and free mobile SMS or MMS, either over WiFi or the user’s smart phone active data plan. A valid phone number is required to register this service without collecting user names, emails, and other contact information. The most popular mobile messaging apps in the market are WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat, KaKao Talk, ChatON, Viber, BBM and others. New technologies transform how people think and process information (Wood, 20011). It allows people create new online identities to fit their different moods and goals in social network sites and blogs. Those people that share their common interest are belongs to virtual communities. 

Technology makes more and more people prefer to join the virtual community and it turns human communication into something impersonal. Thus, technology replacing personal interaction and destroying teen’s interpersonal skills among physical or real communities. According to the Devito (2009), interpersonal communication involves verbal and nonverbal interaction between two or more persons such as conversations, interviews, and small group discussions. Mobile messaging apps are not only the prevalent but also preferred forms of communication for many students and young adults today. This shift may affect their ability to properly and physically talk in person with peers. 

Teenagers or generation Y are growing up and developing their social skills online. So, they will use short message in the form of text messaging through mobile messaging apps. By using short and ambiguous messages, it might increase the quantity of interpersonal communication but also decrease the quality of conversation. Frequent user in mobile messaging apps may have difficulty in face-to-face interactions. They also feel lonely, socially isolated and alienated. Marche (2012) stated that if people are reading other lives that better than them, they will feel worse about themselves. They experienced loneliness also because of people give more attention to their texting than talking to the people they are with. 

Licensed professional counselor Jared Pizzitola encouraged that shy or more isolated kids can practice their social skills through online (Brodie, 2012). But, the lack of face-to-face communication practice leads them fail to express or disclose themselves with fluency and confidence in conversations (Brodie, 2012).

By Muhamad Ikhwan

Devito, J. A. (2009). The interpersonal communication book (12^th ed.). United States: Pearson         Education, Inc.

Brodie, S. (2012). Is social media destroying teens? Retrieved from  http://nvate.com/5905/interpersonal-skills/

Wood, J. T. (2011). Communication mosaics: An introduction to the field of communication (6^th ed.).  Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 

Marche, S. (2012, April 2). Is Facebook making us lonely? The Atlantic. Retrieved from  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/

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Face-to-Face?

Everything has its advantages and disadvantages, its pluses and minuses. So, naturally, there must be a number of mobile messaging disadvantages. Wood (2011) mentioned that technological revolution makes people interact with each other faster and wider throughout the world. But, Assmann (2006) argued that these new technologies may undermine human community such as destroying the interpersonal skills among real-life community. According to a child psychologist at New York’s Child Mind Institute, Melissa Ortega noted that kids fail to handle conflict face-to-face interaction because they are more dependent on technology to facilitate their social interactions (Bindley, 2011). 

Verderber and Verderber (2008) defined face-to-face interaction or meeting among real-life communities as a meeting which involve the verbal and nonverbal communicative behaviors where all members or people come together in one physical location to make a decision or solve a problem. Wood (2011) said that today virtual communities are formed more frequently as communication technology makes more and more people to join in. Virtual communities are an interaction through online which involve written communication where all members or people in various locations use technology on a decision (Verderber & Verderber, 2008). 

Wood (2011) said that the differences between interaction in a face-to-face and an online environment can be viewed by comparing the cognitive abilities such as critical thinking and problem solving. Cognitive abilities can be defined as how the individual’s capacity can perform higher mental processes of reasoning, judgments, perception, awareness, and problem solving (Carroll, 1993). 

Social media may discourage independent, critical thinking because in the virtual communities that more emphasis on words, particularly with written communication, so users will rely on external programs that can easily catch typing errors or occasional error in grammar, syntax, and punctuation (Wood, 2011). Wood (2004) stated that a person doesn’t talk much will decreasing his ability to interpret others in terms of internal motives, personality traits and character. Although mobile messaging apps helps shy teen practice their social skills, sitting down and taking face-to-face will be more effectively to solve a problem (Devito, 2009). 

Verderber, Verderber and Sellnow (2012) agreed that communication skills such as persuasion, negotiation, public speaking skills are needed in building interpersonal relationships. Verderber et al. (2012) added they people that belong to real life community will know how to comfort people, examine the tension between openness and privacy, develop ways to negotiate different needs with others and can manage interpersonal conflict in a relationship. Devito (2009) also added that nonverbal communication that only involve in face-to-face communication such as visual cues and vocal cues may affect how the message interpret by the receiver even words are not being use by the sender.     

By Muhammad Saiful Akmal

Assmann, A. (2006). The printing press and the internet: From a culture of memory to a culture of attention. In N. Gentz & S. Kramer (Eds.), Globalization, cultural identities, and media representations (pp. 11-24). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. 

Bindley, K. (2011). When children text all day, what happens to their social skills? Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/children-texting-technology-social-skills_n_1137570.html

Devito, J. A. (2009). The interpersonal communication book (12^th ed.). United States: Pearson Education, Inc.

Wood, J. T. (2004). Communication theories in action: An introduction (3^rd ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Wood, J. T. (2011). Communication mosaics: An introduction to the field of communication (6^th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 

Keyboard is mightier than the sword?

Pen use to be a weapon for journalist to express their opinion and injustices about political, economic and social issues. Recently, keyboard also classify as a strong weapon for citizen journalist to be fully participate in discussing public issues through new media. These citizen journalist can act as the watchdog to monitor the mainstream media. They can create diversity of voices and inspire more people to change their society to better.

Keyboard is sharper than a sword because it have more reader compare to printed newspapers. Online space is a global village. Internet and new media speed up the trend of globalization which making the world smaller than it is. Everything that you posts through social media will stay forever in internet and spread to the reader all around the world. Think before you post information, including photos, news or send them to your friend and family. 

Be careful what you post, it might affect you. Your privacy is more important than enjoyment. It can put you at risk, ruin your life, you job or hurt the love one. 

Do you still think your online communication are private and safe? 

By Abdul U'rus Redzuan

Smartphones. Bringing good than bad, or bad than good?

Smartphones are not simply an amazing convenience. According to Muto (2012), a smartphone is a type of mobile device built on a mobile computing platform with more features, connectivity, and computing ability than a regular mobile phone.

Ages ago, smartphones were mainly used as personal digital assistants (PDA) and a phone. Today, smartphones have evolved into a miniature handheld computer and a main stream in our society; beleievable that some might go as far to say that they have become a necessity in everyday life. Have you noticed what seems like millions of people are glued to their smartphone’s soft glow? Unfortunately, you are not the only one who happens to notice that. Over 1.8 billion people own smartphones and use their devices on a daily basis. Some studies estimate that an average person checks their screen 150 times a day.

Personally, I check my smartphone compulsively. And the more I use it, the more often the urge to look at it hits me. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? In my opinion, truthfully, it really depends on the things I was reading through on my smartphone. It might be necessary if there are important mails, text messages or even digging up for information at the moment. However, it will be a bad thing if the thing I did was playing games or maybe replying unimportant texts during classes or even during a conversation; it is called disrespect.

Whilst, children on the other hand, having to own a smartphone at a younger age, to me, is a bad thing. This widespread use of technology trickles down to the youngest members of our society. In a recent publication in the UK, it was noted that 56 percent of children between the ages of 10 to 13 own a smartphone. While that fact alone may come as a shock, it is estimated that 25 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 5 have a smartphone.

A recent study revealed that one in five parents uses a smartphone or tablet to keep their children distracted while running errands. Eating out in restaurants can be a more pleasant experience for parents whose kids are occupied with games, learning apps or music on the smartphone. However, some people feel that staring at a screen discourages face-to-face interactions with their peers and family. Parents and educators worry about over-stimulating a child who may want to spend hours on a smartphone rather than playing outside.These are certainly all-valid concerns, and deserve some consideration. It is not a question of who to be blamed, but how do we solve this, because smartphones can be a good thing if used wisely.

By Mahirah Abdul Rahman