Communication is a process in which an exchange of information takes place. It is a state
that involves the act of conveying and understanding tad bits of notions from people who share a
common symbolic system. Communication can be proven effective and efficient if both sides of
this cyclic process have been able to share their sentiments without going through the means of
being misunderstood. Digital technology, however, has made this process of communication
convenient but not effective. Words alone cannot and will not suffice when speaking about one’s
thoughts. Various variables should also be considered when communicating, such as body
language, facial expressions, voice tones, and intonations. These aspects help people to be
understood and relay what they genuinely wanted to. However, teens these days grew up in a
generation wherein there is an emergence of technology and have been reliant on it to
communicate. Messages are a much-preferred means of conversing rather than meeting up in an
actual face-to-face. With digital technology, forming a message allows the sender to ponder it
upon or even edit it for periods of time; audio and visual calls block the sender and the receiver
from seeing each other’s body language. This modern era of communicating has been more on
convenience than on effectiveness. The idea of not receiving a man-man reaction and real-time
audio and visual details put risks of being misinterpreted and leave both sides being confounded.
As technology advances, people tend to stick to something that is more convenient and
time-fitting. Why socialize and make acquaintances with people if adding someone off Facebook
as a mutual is as easy as a simple tap on screen? Why vent and share emotional baggage with a
good friend if one can tweet and share their problems away on social media platforms? Why go
through something involving conversing and interacting with actual people when technology
itself can also provide a sense of empathy like how humans do? Little do people know, this
understanding and empathy that technology imparts to its users is nothing but a pure façade, an
ill-fitting like hood that provides fake comfort. What people need is an actual person. For
comfort, for advice, for socialization, and a time for oneself if feeling alone. People have been
more dependent on artificial intelligence that they no longer appreciate the ones who created it⁠—
people like themselves.
Technology has benefited humankind in ways that it promotes efficiency, productivity,
and innovativeness. I have been living away from my parents and quite a few relatives that I am
close with, and with the help of modern technology, communication for us is an easy grasp.
People way back communicate with letters and mails that take weeks or months to reach certain
destinations; however, these days, a message and a call are just one tap away. Throughout the
ages, technology has constantly been evolving and improving. It has served its purpose well that
we even need them to ensure the quality of our certain tasks and even to get through the day. As
a boon for more accessible communications, technology consequently emerges as one of its
banes. As much as we use it as a means of communication from afar, it also leads us to little or
no communication when we are together. These little tiny gadgets distract us from the actual
reality since we tend to engross ourselves with social media rather than actual communication
with our families.