the prevalence of social media
Over a period of a decade, the prevalence of social media has made people more interconnected than any other time in history. According to Elhai et al., the most common reason people use social media is to stay connected with their family and friend (509). However, social media has profoundly influenced how individuals live, communicate, and interact with one another. In particular, social media and social interaction over the internet has impacted people’s interpersonal relationships in positive and negative ways. One positive influence of social media on interpersonal relationships is that it facilitates interaction over geographical distances. Accordingly, a parent can keep in touch with his or her children while away on work. Secondly, Subramanian opines that when people communicate over the internet, they tend to be more open and deeper than in-person conversations (73). Overall, the combination of social and media networks have made it possible for people to have meaningful conversations without reservations.
On the other side, social media addiction has led to negative behaviors such as social isolation and lack of cohesion, both of which ruin interpersonal relationships. In particular, social media addiction among adolescents affects their ability to form offline interpersonal relationships. It leads to negative consequences for their psycho-social well-being. Secondly, Christensen observes that a person might concentrate on his or her phone instead of talking to others in a social setting. Interestingly, the behavior has increasingly become commonplace that is considered normal to most people. Thirdly, cyberbullying is arguably one of the worst outcomes of social media interaction. The anonymity factor of social media and the internet has influenced interpersonal communication because it has taken away people’s ethical responsibility to each other (Elhai et al. 511). Overall, social media and the internet have changed how people communicate, which has had both positive and negative impacts on interpersonal relationships