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.