Face-to-Face Conversation or Social Media
Nowadays, thanks to modern technology, people use social media to communicate with others from a far distance. Undoubtedly, social media has become part of our daily lives and made our lives much more convenient. However, there are some who think that social media takes away the personal touch that only face-to-face conversation possesses. In the recent years, many have been debating about whether social media has a negative effect on people. Nevertheless, we can all agree that both of them have their pros and cons.
The first advantage that people think about social media has to be its convenience Social media allows people to communicate with others regardless of distance. If you have the right equipment, it’s also possible to use social media at any place at any time. This is the benefit not possessed by face-to-face conversation. However, those “equipment” can be a problem since they are not cheap. You cannot use social media with nothing. A computer or a smart phone is needed. Both of them are not cheap, especially the computer. In addition, you also need to pay for the Internet. These are the prices you have to pay to enjoy the convenience.
Different people have different habits. Using social media is efficient for its convenience. But it can go the other way around because some people may not have the habit to check messages or e-mails regularly. Face-to-face conversation, on the other hand, is much more effective for those people since they can receive responses immediately. Another example is that there are also people who struggle with verbal communication in face-to-face situations. Then using social media could be their solutions. Again, this can go the other way around for the people with writing or typing problems. The effectiveness depends on the person’s habit.
Memorability is also a difference between face-to-face conversation and social media. A research which is related to the topic was conducted by Loughorough University. One of their key results is that meeting face-to-face is actually better for memorizing. One attendee said, “Face to face communication stays in the memory as you can more easily associate it with the personality”. But, if you look at the other way, the texts sent through social media will not be deleted for quite some time. If you forgot something, there’s no worry because they were automatically saved. For example, any common social media application, such as Messenger or Line, has the ability to preserve all of the conversations you have with others. Those texts won’t be gone unless you delete them intentionally.
In conclusion, I think that both methods for communication are fine. One is not necessarily better or worse than the other. Surely, they have their own strengths and weaknesses. But it should depend on the needs. If you value convenience over anything else, social media is your choice. If you are the type of person that prefer immediate and personal responses from others, perhaps you want to have the discussion in person. It’s just the matter of choices.
References
Loughorough University. (2015). Does the Future Have Room for Face to Face Communication? Retrieved from
https://www.burleigh-court.co.uk/assets/docs/face-to-face-communication.pdf
Ashton College. The Importance of Face-to-Face Communication. Retrieved from https://www.ashtoncollege.ca/the-importance-of-face-to-face-communication/