Face-to-face Conversations or Social Media
With the advancement in
technology, many people would
choose to communicate with others
through social media instead of
communicating face to face. Not
only for the business conversation
but also the daily conversation,
people tend to use social media to
contact each other on account of the
convenience. Even though there are
lots of advantages that social media
may have, communication through
social media still creates some liabilities between people, such as some misunderstandings or confusion. Consequently, we should not only look at the bright side of social media but also need to focus on the functions of face-to-face and online conversations. Thus, the advantages and disadvantages between the face-to-face conversations and the conversations through social media respectively will be discussed below.
Firstly, in terms of convenience, we can tell that online conversation is much more convenient than the face-to-face conversation obviously. Owing to the rapid development of the technology, we can in contact with our overseas friends and also to maintain a long-distance relationship by just texting on the phone. So, we can realize that the conversation which takes place through social media is usually quick and to the point. However, as for the face-to-face conversation, it takes us a lot of time to make a conversation with others comparatively. Due to the fact that if we want to do a face-to-face conversation, we have to contact that person first. Besides, we need to meet them in person. Therefore, it is clear that the face-to-face conversation is inefficient and also not so convenient in the modern society.
Secondly, I want to point out some drawbacks of online conversation. In terms of building relationships, although social media can assist people to maintain a long-distance relationship, face-to face conversations can help a relationship to last longer. Because people are the creatures of emotions, if we always contact and converse with friends on social media, we will lack the sensibilities to concern others so that the whole society will be short of warmness.
Last but not least, there is a prime difference between face-to-face and online conversations, and that is the facial expression, which is also the major advantage of the face-to-face conversation. Owing to the lack of the tone of voice, the conversation through social media often leads to misunderstanding. We all know that it is easy and also convenient to text or send e-mails to someone behind the screen. However, most of us may forget a fact that the messages on the screen can not convey our ideas and thoughts perfectly. As a result, it may cause some problems when we are having a conversation through social media. Misunderstanding may deteriorate the relationship between two close friends or the family members, so we need to use them appropriately also equally.
In conclusion, although a recent study has shown that people are more likely to make a conversation through social media, depending on my personal experience, I would like to recommend the face-to-face conversation based on these features mentioned above: convenience, relationship building, and the facial expression between the two kinds of conversations. As a result, if there is someone asking me to make a recommendation between, I would chose face-to-face conversation instead of online conversation definitely.
References
Christopher Tso (2018) Social Media Cannot Replace Face-To-Face Interaction
Retrieved from: https://www.wphtm.org/social-media-face-to-face-interaction/ (picture 1)
Andrei from Mother Russia (2015) Technology is replacing face to face communication
Retrieved from:
http://andrei125rus.blogspot.com/2015/04/technology-is-replacing-face-to-face.html (picture 2)
M-SUR (2019)Social media or Face-to-face - Traffic sign with two options - question of internet communication, social skills, personal face to face interaction
Retrieved from:
picture 1
picture 2
