With technology running every aspect of our everyday lives, it’s extremely difficult to build honest, long-lasting relationships with friends and family. Advances in cell phones have greatly improved our communication. They have made it possible for us to share important information faster than ever. Unfortunately, this also means our language is more monotone and 2D than ever.
Text messages have taken away human emotion in news-sharing. Texting allows for people to talk without hearing each others’ voices, or seeing their facial expressions. There’s no way to find the meaning from their voice or face. No one goes up to someone and introduces themselves anymore. Instead we send friend request and message each other. Emojis and text messages are our latest way of spreading news. This has affected the way we view our friends, and how they view us.
I have realized many people in my life are not who I first saw them as. This is because I never really saw them in the first place. I created the person I wanted them to be by reading their messages how I wanted them to be interpreted. I’ve realized a lot of important conversations I’ve had were over text message, and not face-to-face. This made the conversation feel fake, flimsy, and forgettable. The next time I’d see a person I’d exchanged messages with, it was like we never had the talk at all. The information given in these chats just didn’t feel real.
This past summer I attended a great summer camp. There, I met some great people and built some great relationships. At the beginning of the week we were required to turn in all our electronics, and we wouldn’t get them back until the last day. I couldn’t understand what made those friendships so different than those back home. Then I realized it was because everything I had shared, and experienced with these people, was face-to-face. The friendship I had built with them felt unique, and real. I also felt I could be more honest with them. Unlike the friends I made at camp, the ones I built online, and over text were expendable. If I could go back in time, I would change the way I approached friends, and limit what I shared with them over text. Fortunately, now I know the importance of having friendships outside of the digital world.