By: Carol Paiz
What are social skills? Well, it is a skill
that helps us interact with each other. So what does social media have to do with any of our social skills? It actually has everything to do with it. Notice how fast our thumbs race through the small keyboard on our screens or laptops, without even thinking twice our hands our writing down our thoughts onto a screen! Incredible isn’t it? but what is the cost of all this technology and “new age” of communicating? Maybe it is costing us our social skills. maybe this is the reason why baby boomers and millennials have such a hard time seeing eye to eye.
Listen to our own face to face conversations, we tend to break a lot or lose eye contact, or we add”Lots of “you knows” and “umm” and “well” as they try to put together a string of words that make sense.” (McMahon). Technology is good, and social media has allowed us to open a whole new world of possibilities. but we are forgetting what it’s like to actively listen to a conversation, gather thoughts and speak your mind without hesitation! Social Anxiety is becoming a mental disorder more likely seen in young adults. You may be asking do we even need social skills anymore? Yes, we do! Think about the last time you sat at a dinner table with someone and your phone was not one of the main focuses of the conversation! or the last time you talked to someone holding eye contact, without you or them scrolling through their phone while “listening” to you.
We may think that losing social skills will never happen, that it’s impossible because we grow up learning about it. But slowly and surely we are losing it. Don’t just think of our generation, but of the next one. If we are like this now, do you imagine our own children?
McMahon, Deb. “Does Social Media Kill Communication Skills?” Des Moines Register. N.p., 30 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/abetteriowa/2015/09/30/does-social-media-kill-communication-skills/73067760/>.
Richard, Thomas A. “what is social anxety” Social Anxiety Institute” Web. 02 Apr. 2017. https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/what-is-social-anxiety