The Advancement of Human Communication (Blog #3) (David Matson)

Has the internet has led to good results in terms of human communication?

There are many people on both sides of the fence on this issue, and there ate valid arguments on both sides. One of the issues that comes up often when this is debated is the issue of texting.

Texting

Texting has risen as a very popular form of communication. According to Teckst, 97% of americans text at least once a day, and there are almost 23 billion texts sent each day. 

The argument against texting says that texting with abbreviations and shortcuts makes your grammar and spelling skills worse when you are actually trying to write. On the other side of the fence for this issue is John McWhorter, who in his Ted Talk on this subject, stated that texting actually makes you better at spelling and grammar. He said that when you text, he it is closer to talking then academic writing and uses a different part of your brain than when you are actually writing. He also said that it increases your "linguistic repertoire", which he says increases your abilities rather than decreasing them.

There are, of course, the instances where people sitting right next to each other will text each other rather than having a verbal conversation, and I am even been guilty of doing this a few times. I have also seen two people who have a long distance relationship over text meeting in person and being unable to have good conversations, or even mediocre ones.

Texting has made communication vastly easier, so that now, you no longer have to phone someone to communicate quickly and easily.

Social Media

I don't know much about any other social media networks other than Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and I the only one I use is Facebook, so I don't have much insight into this, but most social media platforms seem to have improved our communication. You can find a group of people who share your interests like you might not be able to without it, and you can show your friends what you like without have to discuss it. While this can sometimes get very annoying, it is easy to stop yourself from seeing things you don't want to see. I don't even use this part of Facebook much, I just look at school groups that I am a part of, so that I can know what's happening with choir and other things that I am a part of. Many people have problems with spending too much time on Facebook, but I have never found this to be an issue.

News Media

The Internet has greatly enhanced the ability of news media to spread information rapidly and easily. They can publish much more content that is possible on TV, and it reaches more people than TV does. I has also helped to diversify sources for information, so that people no longer have to rely on just a few sources, you can look at thousands of different sources of information quite easily. 

Conclusions

I think that overall, the Internet has been a great positive force on human communication, with most people now using it to communicate, without having to be in the same place as the person that you are communicating with.

How do you use the internet to communicate? Do the different social media platforms enhance or degrade human communication?

Thanks for reading.