How has social media changed communication?

How has social media changed communication?

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear this question is the effect that social media has on face to face conversation. In this article it talks about how we would rather have those conversations over email, or texting rather than face to face. (http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051313p10.shtml)  We tend to hide behind our phones and say things that we normally wouldn’t say face to face but we’ll say through social media. This is a way that social media has changed communication in more of a negative light. One of the most amazing things about social media is the way that it connects us to people all over the world. It allows us to communicate with others that we normally wouldn’t be able to without social media. Yes, we communicate differently with people over social media than we would face to face but I believe that we can still make genuine connections and friendships through social media. Social media helps us get insight into places around the world that we may be curious about. In this article one of the ways social media has changed communication is the ability to see what is happening around the world. (http://circaedu.com/hemj/how-social-media-changed-the-way-we-communicate/)
Social media allows you to expand your network and communicate with a larger audience than you would before. Many people are using social media to help share their stories and in return reach out to those who many be facing similar situations. Social media helps to give a voice to those who might not have one otherwise. It gives them a platform to share their message and their story.

            Social media can be positive or it can be negative it depends on the way that we use it. I believe social media can make us lazy in the way we communicate. We take shortcuts in our relationships by using social media. We justify “liking” someone’s picture as a way to show we’re following along and support their lives instead of reaching out and catching up with them. This is one way that I believe we become lazy in maintaining our relationships face to face. Social media is a great way to follow along with our friends lives and keep in touch but we also need to step out of social media and maintain our personal relationships.

            Overall I believe that social media has changed the way that we communicate with each other but also the way we communicate with the world. On social media we can portray an image that doesn’t accurately show how our lives are. Social media makes it a lot easier to communicate an image of we want people to view us. The only problem with this is it is easier to fake our lives to seem better than they are on social media. We only post our highlight reels on social media.