ARE MOBILE PHONES DESTROYING PEOPLES SOCIAL SKILLS

MrBinbetweener

Is it just me or is it everywhere you go people have their head glued to their phone....yes they are a convience however when your out with a friend and they spend half the night textin friends....going on facebook...or boards it just comes across so rude. I personally would pull them on it but i cant get over the amount of people who contstantly text...wheres is the good times where people would meet up for a coffee or a pint and just talk about random stuff face to face.

KateMtM

On the contrary, I think phones are very much a social device, but misused.

From the perspective of someone with social anxiety, you can easily see the benefits, being able to communicate without face to face tension or awkwardness to drive people away- perhaps why young people so often base their first communications with each other through a screen of some sorts. (Especially in cases where the other person is a potential boyfriend/girlfriend)

JamboMac

KateMtM wrote: »

On the contrary, I think phones are very much a social device, but misused.

From the perspective of someone with social anxiety, you can easily see the benefits, being able to communicate without face to face tension or awkwardness to drive people away- perhaps why young people so often base their first communications with each other through a screen of some sorts. (Especially in cases where the other person is a potential boyfriend/girlfriend)

But how would ever get over social anxiety if they feel to secure behind a screen and are afraid to venture past this and face to face communication, this is why it will be easier to fool these generations as they will not be able to read facial cues or body language in general and potentially give off signals which they don't wish to give off

Aurelia Cotta

I think some people use their phones to avoid conversation all together. I extremely dislike it when people are at the store and are talking to the person working behind the counter and then going back to the conversation about what guy they met at the pub the night before. That and I think the constant texting is an excuse for someone to have poor grammar. I always make sure my thoughts are expressed correctly, even if it is over a text. I do sometimes shorten my words though like tbh, atm, etc. I personally don't even carry a cell phone. I don't like knowing people can constantly contact me. You need to unplug sometimes and I do that by looking at my blooming garden.

Dr.Tank Adams

complete myth IMO, humans are innately social creatures, so we can't just "lose" our social skills. I think what's happening is people are simply choosing to use phones etc. more than face to face interaction, but it's not destroying our social skills.

nate19841

For me personally, I think the modern generation are more book smart than previous with the world their fingertips

theequaliser

Mobile phones are a great 'companion' if you are alone and not needing social interaction but they can also be used as a 'barrier' if you prefer to be left alone.
Regarding social skills, they have no correlation with the use of a mobile phone simply because a 'social skill' is a choice that the individual can make, with or without the phone--in any event it is suggested that most 'unsociable-phone-users' would be 'unsociable' anyway.

The whole thing boils down to 'bad-manners' and as you will observe in Irish Society, it is endemic.

Written like a true sociologist.

L.Jenkins

It's an argument that has merits for each pro and con. I notice that it connects people very well, but people seem to have an issue dropping devices when in the company of others.

Driveby Dogboy

no, not at all. i'm out having a pint with mates having great craic, had dinner earlier with them, but the food was cold by the time i got to eat it, had to wait till everyone was finished taking pictures of theirs, it'd be rude to start eating ahead of anyone else, though. wouldnt it?


i'll probably take 40 or 50 pictures of all the fun we'll have tonight to upload to facebook later, we're gas craic altogether


sent from my IPhone Sony Xperia