Social Media

Image by shuaib_y via Flickr

The social media (e.g Twitter and Facebook) are very much in the news these days. Just today I read how demonstrations have been organised more or less spontaneously using these media and there is much research being conducted on how these forms of communication affect our cognitive functioning. That this form of communication is here to stay seems incontravertible.

Less well documented is what the long term effect will be of the use of such technology. It certainly fills a much needed space but what does it do to our social interaction skills and ability to communicate with people in a normal social setting? Reading body language and picking up on emotional and vocal patterns are important skills. Will these be adversely affected if we actually meet each other less and use the social media more?