Change of the development of relationships

Uses and Trends

Social media is used to create plans with large groups of people. Whether it is a public event or private event, chat services make organizing plans easy.  In the article, “How Brazilian protesters are using Twitter”, we see how powerful social media is. By using Twitter people were able to gain support from thousands of Brazilians, this helped organize a time and place where they could begin the protest.

With how many people have access to the internet, the rise of using social media to meet people is increasing. People are using social media platforms to create relationships that are casual and intimate.

Disruptive Impact

Social media is used to communicate with one another, but it is mostly through text. Which consists of email, text messages and blog posts. People tend to stay away from using a voice call whenever they can. Whether this is healthy depends on a person’s lifestyle, they interact with people in person throughout the day. Then this approach of not using voice calls so much is fine. However, if someone completely isolates themselves, then it could cause behavior complications.

Social media has caused a shift from face-to-face relationships to online ones. The convenience of just calling someone rather than meeting them in person is the norm. An article by Roberto A. Ferdman talks about how people use social media because it’s easier to find someone with common interests. The vast amount of people to connect with is much larger than the number of people you could meet in person.

Predictions

With all the positive things, social media has to offer there are some negatives as well. In the future, social media might cause people to become more isolated because a relationship is different in person versus online. You can opt out of someone’s life if they live thousands of miles away. If you meet them in person or could make the trip to see them because they are close by. This, in most cases, is not an option.

Social media could also cause people to not recognize social cues, since it is a learned behavior. If you don’t have experience talking with people in person, chances are you will not understand what facial expressions, body language or amount of eye contact are appropriate.