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Whitney Johnson
Professor Sotirin
Interpersonal Communication
22 October 2018

Social Media and Relationships

Being part of a generation that is constantly connected and rarely alone with their

thoughts, I thought it would be a good idea to ask a fellow classmate exactly what their thoughts

were on the situation and how they have managed to navigate their way through this time of

technology.  I decided to start with the basics and inquire as to what specific forms of media this

individual uses on a regular basis, from there I presented the idea of reverting back to the old

ways of communicating over great distances; the pen and paper. I was interested to see what this

person had to say about this.  I thought it might shed some light on the dependency we display

towards our electronics, whether we are aware of it or not. Furthermore, I hoped to find out

whether or not technology was, in any way, poorly impacting the individual’s relationships with

those closest to them.

        Sources have done studies on topics such as this.  One such example is the Pew Research

Center article Couples, the Internet and Social Media.  In this article it is stated that “young

adults are more likely to report that the internet has had an impact on their relationship” (Pew

research Center).  This falls in line with the idea that we, as a new generation, are forming a

dependency upon our technological forms of communication. Another study done at Indiana

University found that 78% of the 188 participants would like to communicate with a stranger in a

face to face setting (Dr. Michelle Drouin et al).  This intrigued me seeing as one of my main
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questions was centered around social media dependency for communication; this study turned

me on to the idea that maybe my pre-made assumptions may not prove to be true with my

interviewee. The article Does Posting Facebook Status Updates Increase or Decrease

Loneliness? An Online Social Networking Experiment lays out the fact that, upon concluding an

experiment, it was found that “status updating more over 7 days reduced loneliness.  As

expected, the reduction in loneliness was accounted for by feeling more connected and in touch

with friends on a daily basis” (Fenne groβe Deters, Matthias R. Mehl).  Lastly, The role of

Facebook in romantic relationship development: An exploration of Knapp’s relational stage

model tells us that “Facebook’s role is that it has altered the way by which college-aged students

proceed through the initiating, experimenting, and intensifying phases of relationships” (Knapp).

This spoke to me seeing as I am a college student looking to interview a fellow student of the

same age on the impacts of technology in the realm of dependency and relationships.

        Furthermore, Gulf News states that “though social media can create amazing

opportunities for people to connect, people’s high dependence on social media platforms can

cause them to start unlearning their social skills” (Dr. Rima Sabban, Experts warn against over-

dependence on social media).  And, The Nation states “This dependence has not only made

human beings’ life so facilitated, comforted and luxurious but also this dependence has made

him lazy, sluggish and somewhat weak and feverish physically” Aneeqa Javed, Asad Gohar).

My interviewee was a fellow classmate.  This made the process fairly simple and the playing

fields pretty even, seeing as we have been taking the same class and absorbing the same

information pertaining to this topic all semester long.  We set up the date and time for the

interview in class and carried it out without any issues. We met on the South Mezzanine of the

Rozsa on Friday October 19 at 5pm.  Neither one of us have ever fulfilled the positions that we
th
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were forced to fill that day; for me, interviewing and for John, answering semi personal

questions about himself to a complete stranger.  I think the unfamiliarity of the situation made

both of us semi tense to start off with, this eventually shifted as I got the recording device set up

and asked the first few questions. Seeing as we both knew what the topic was going to relate to,

John was not phased when I started asking him about what forms of social media he used and

who he talked to the most.

        Initially, for the interview, I started off by asking very general questions such as modes of

communication and frequency of use.  After this was established I started to ask John about

whether or not he would prefer to communicate in some other way, such as handwritten letters.

My questions were geared towards my underlying theme of the dependency we have on

technology and the way in which we interact with it. This ultimately led to the more personal

questions pertaining to relationships and the effect that this established dependency has on them.

        The interview and subsequent results went as I expected.  John demonstrated a

dependency towards his technological communication methods.  His methods of choice were

“Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter”. He believes that they are an easy way to stay

connected to friends and family.  He did, however, say that it would be nice to receive an

occasional letter as opposed to a text message seeing as it is more meaningful in that a letter is “a

statement that someone took time out of their day to write me a message and not just shoot me a

text”.  Though he believes letters to be more personal, he would not want to revert to that as a

primary mode of communicating seeing as it is time consuming and takes much longer to reach

the recipient. He feels that many of his peers are on their phones too much and that many would

rather take this route instead of a face to face interaction.  This can be attributed to the

convenience, simplicity, and speed at which information can be exchanged. He feels that he
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himself is on his phone more than is necessary and would like to pay more attention to this;

ultimately resulting in less time being wasted on social media. He also believes that social media

dependency gets in the way of relationships.  In his case, his girlfriend “gets jealous of other

women that I keep in contact with”. He attributes this to the previously stated idea that social

media is overly simplified and communication with nearly anyone is effortless. Overall, John

admits to being overly dependent on social media though he feels it tends to complicate the

personal relationships that he has.  He believes that handwritten letters are more personal and

would be more fun to receive than a simple text, but due to his dependency he would not want to

change the ways he has already established.

        If I were to go through this process again, I would conduct my interview sooner.  This is

assuming that time and schedules worked, which was not the case this time.  I would also allow

for more time with my interviewee so as to not feel rushed. Overall, I was pleased with the

results of this interview.  It went about as I expected seeing as I had quite a bit of research to

back my assumptions up on. I learned that social media dependence is a very prevalent

phenomenon, but it is not one that will easily be eradicated due to the ease in which individuals

can communicate with one another.  It appears that this dependency takes precedence over

personal relationships in the sense that John (though he is just one example) would rather keep

up his social media habits at the risk of complicating his relationships. This ultimately results in

an increased need for relationship maintenance.

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Works Cited

Deters, Fenne, and Matthias Mehl. Does Posting Facebook Status Updates Increase or Decrease
Loneliness? An Online Social Networking Experiment. Sage, 2012.

Drouin, Michelle, et al. Stop Instant Messaging/Texting and Call Someone! The Downfalls of IM
for Interpersonal Communication. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Fox, Jesse, et al. The Role of Facebook in Romantic Relationship Development: An Exploration

of Knapp’s Relational Stage Model. JSPR, 2013.

John MacLean. Personal Interview. 19 Oct. 2018.

Nazzal, Noor. “Experts Warn against over-Dependence on Social Media.” GulfNews, Gulfnews,

17 Feb. 2015, gulfnews.com/news/uae/society/experts-warn-against-over-dependence-on-
social-media-1.1458606.

Pew Research Center, February 2014, “Couples, the Internet, and Social Media” Available at:
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2014/Couples-and-the-internet.aspx

The Nation. “Too Dependent on Technology.” The Nation, The Nation, 31 Dec. 2017,
nation.com.pk/01-Jan-2018/too-dependent-on-technology.
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