Have we forgotten how to interact with people?

“There is never going to be a substitute for face-to-face communication, but we have seen since the alphabet, to the telephone and now the Internet, that whenever people find a new way to communicate, they will flock to it.” -Howard Rheingold

The idea that people do anything to avoid face-to-face communication is one that may seem a bit extreme from the surface, but when analyzed further it is an idea that can be connected to everyday interactions between people. 74% of humans suffer from speech anxiety, and lets be honest- interacting with people is hard!

Via text, it can be rather easy to say whatever you feel like saying, without facing the repercussions of someones reaction to it. People become so glued to their phones, and with this comes a ton of negative consequences. Here are just a few:

• Lack of practicing basic speech with others
• A slow loss of social skills with prolonged lack of face-to-face interaction
• Straying away from dealing with internal emotions/emotions of others

Lets think of a reasons that would support Howard Rheingolds quote which discusses avoiding face-to-face interactions. For starters, when texting someone, you don’t have to worry about how you look on the exterior. This gives the individual texting a sense of relief, as they may not have to worry about how they are being physically perceived by the person they are talking to. On top of this, when texting, people can reply whenever they want! They don’t have to immediately answer to anyone- they can do so when they feel like it.

The conveniences that come with texting as opposed to physically interacting with someone can be discussed for hours- but this does not mean that these conveniences are beneficial to our well-being. Start texting less and interacting more! Train your social skills- and don’t be afraid to say hello to people; most of them don’t bite.