Face-to-face

With more and more people spending more time remaining glued to the internet and the mobile phone screen, psychologists and mental health experts have called for increasing interpersonal communication which focuses on direct, rich, face-to-face exchanges with verbal and non-verbal cues. Experts have also pointed out that face-to-face communication helps in building deep connections, while social media offers broad, often asynchronous, text/image-based connections. Though social media enables one to have wider reach, there is an increasing risk of falling prey to superficiality, misinterpretation, and reduced non-verbal understanding, which in turn creates a trade-off between depth and breadth in relationships. There is no confusion over the fact that social media excels at maintaining distant ties and quick info sharing through video calls and posts. But its curated nature and brevity can lead to the erosion of nuanced skills like empathy and active listening, which are essential for deep interpersonal communication. The outcome is that individuals are being pushed to prefer mediated interaction over present, physical engagement. In the present situation, maintaining a balance between both is crucial not only for well-rounded social skills but also for maintaining mental health and well-being. Experts have also pointed out that traditional interpersonal communication thrives on richness; it is an amazingly dynamic combination of words, tone, eye contact, and body language, all of which allows for immediate feedback and deep emotional understanding. Conversely, social media offers vast reach and helps connect people across continents instantly. In the process, however, it often wipes out this non-verbal context and creates leaner, more curated exchanges. As has been pointed out, a text lacks a smile, and a post lacks a sigh; this in turn may lead to potential miscommunication and a reliance on symbols – emojis – to fill the void. The choice is yours.