Chanelle Dominique Canasa
Building an
What is your It is said that social media applications are
main designed to help people keep in touch
argument? with their friends.
Digital Interaction vs. Face-
to-Face Connection: While
social media makes staying in
touch easy, some contend
that it cannot completely
replace the depth of in-
person conversations. Body
language, shared experiences,
and subtleties in conversation
are all made possible by
physical presence and may
not be possible in digital
communication.
Non-Verbal Cues: Face-to-face communication
allows for the exchange of non-verbal cues such as
facial expressions, body language, and gestures.
These cues play a crucial role in conveying
emotions and understanding the context of a
conversation. Albert Mehrabian's communication
model suggests that only a small percentage of
communication is conveyed through words, while a
larger portion is attributed to non-verbal cues.
However, spending long hours
everyday on social media sites
like Facebook and Instagram
worsens feeling of isolation.
Argument
Decreased Quality Time: Superficial Connections: While
People who spend a lot of the ease of social media
connection may increase the
time on social media may
number of contacts, deeper, more
spend less time with each
meaningful friendships are not
other in person. People may always the result. Some contend
find themselves scrolling that compared to the bonds
through feeds rather than created through shared
participating in deep experiences in the real world, the
conversations or activities, informal nature of online
interactions can lead to more
which can weaken the bonds
superficial connections.
between them.
Dunbar's Number: Dunbar, an anthropologist,
Impact of General Screen Time: Studies show
postulated that there is a cognitive limit to the
that excessive use of digital devices, including quantity of stable social relationships that humans
social media, can result in less time spent on are capable of sustaining. Even though social
meaningful in-person interactions. Examples media makes it possible to connect with a large
of these studies include those looking at the number of people, research indicates that most of
these connections might be more surface-level,
effects of screen time on relationships and
with a smaller percentage of them likely to be
well-being. intimate, meaningful relationships.
A limited daily exposure to social media
platforms used in a balanced and
thoughtful manner can foster positive
social connections and may not always
worsen feelings of isolation."