How Digital Communication Affects Millennials

Abstract:

Over the last decade, the use of Instant Messaging (IM) and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) has become more apparent and widely used around the world. One particular group of individuals has been greatly impacted by this platform of communications. The millennials. The intended purpose of this research paper is to understand how IM and CMC affects face-to-face communication in millennials and the negative effects of excessive usage of IM and CMC. This research paper will focus on the three main issues that millennials encounter due to the overuse of digital communication. It will also highlight the adverse effects of CMC such as increasing levels of anxiety, misinterpretation of messages as well as the toll that it takes on their physical health. Such issues would hence lead millennials in having the inability to converse with others face-to-face effectively. It will then be discussed how the quality of conversations has decreased over the years and how interpersonal skills and conflict resolution skills have weakened. The paper will also advise on the effective measure that one can take to overcome the problems which will be further elaborated on in the writing.

Keywords: Millennials, Instant Messaging, Computer-Mediated Communication, Problems and Effects, Technology, Digital Communication

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In this day and age, technology has been widespread, evolving at rapid speed, allowing easy access for everyone. In particular, one group of people have been greatly affected by it – millennials, who were born into a world where everything can be searched at their fingertips. Millennials’ connection to digital communication is why mass media highly label them as “citizens of the digital world” or the “Internet Generation.” This generation of children has been greatly impacted by the evolution of tech that was introduced to them in the very early stages of their childhood, which progresses on following them into their educational path and even into their career lives. It shows how normal digital communication exists in a millennial’s life as they are brought up with smartphones, influenced by social media and technology, and witnessing the difference in communication with these new modes. Hence, acquiring a completely different set of learning and communication choice. Due to the heavy reliance on digital communication as their main medium of communication, this poses a question of whether millennials are struggling with having face-to-face communication with one another. Kok, (2020) examined the amount of time millennials spend glued to their smartphones, which was found that Singaporean millennials spend 0.6 more hours on their mobile devices as compared to the rest of the millennials in the Asia Pacific region, with the average being 2.8 hours. In an interview conducted with Straits Times, (Foged, 2020) discusses how Singaporeans are the most connected consumers and that it is bound that wherever you are, dining in a restaurant or even on public transport, you see millennials glued to their screens. This makes it important to understand the impacts of digital communication on millennials in today’s context and how it affects them during face-to-face communication with one another and their psychological wellbeing. This adds significance to why there is a need to address the topic of the research paper.

A common representation of why millennials would choose Instant Messaging (IM) over face-to-face communication is because they feel that it is easier to get a message across to multiple people all at the same time compared to large meetings. In addition, millennials oftentimes feel that it is redundant to hold large-scale face-to-face meetings especially so when the listener is not attentive when the message is being delivered. This makes it unnecessary and much more of a hassle than efficient. However, with IM being so prevalent in modern society, it has without a doubt strongly affected and influenced millennials to a large extent, leading them to eventually have trouble effectively communicating with one another face-to-face. (Agrawal, 2017). Hence, this emphasizes how despite millennials even having the upper hand of being the most tech-savvy group within the various generations, their biggest strength – digitalized communications, could also play a big part in contributing to their biggest downfall – face-to-face communication. In a global context, it was reported that 65% of millennials declared that they converse with their peers through texting or social media. (Steingold, 2017). This highlights how millennials now have the option and freedom of reaching out to people and making (artificial) connections through digital communication as compared to previous times when things had to be done face-to-face and there was no window of opportunity to do it over Instant Messaging (IM). One example of making artificial connections is through online dating, where you build your network with someone new without the need for the conventional way of introducing yourself to someone at a bar per se or at a sporting event and the excess social anxiety that comes along with it. With just a swipe and a few taps on the keyboard, one can feel less burdened and more comfortable in starting a conversation with a total stranger and saying anything that floats into their mind. However, the disadvantage is that it is harder to gauge someone’s body language or their expressions and their gestures when everything is online. With millennials constantly hiding behind a screen, they find it harder to approach people in real life to strike up conversations or to even carry small talks which then builds up to a lack of confidence. To explain why this is happening, it is because when using IM, it gives the sender a void to contemplate or to think of what to reply, which removes the core rawness of what the intended message the sender wanted to exactly put across. Another reason millennials struggle with face to face communication is that they are able to redo errors and mistakes in their messages which you cannot do in real life and hence, this eventually leads to a decrease in the ability to think on the spot making real-life conversations harder to process for millennials.

Dabbling more onto IM, more often than not, can be quite misleading to various extents. It has been noted that more often than not, millennials would choose the option of communicating through Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) such as texting or online social media platforms as compared to other forms of communication which includes emails, face-to-face, or even over the phone actually. The reason behind it is because it is said through CMC, reveals lesser inhibition, and has a greater level of self-disclosure. (Shepherd & Edelmann, 2005). Reiterating the previous paragraph above, Chan (2011), states that the use of CMC allows an individual to have the ability to draft their messages in their own time which significantly lessens the pressure to reply to the sender right when they receive the message. In today’s world, many millennials live with social anxiety, which is commonly described as avoidance and dread when placed in social situations and there would be a high chance of them being in a state of distress and high level of stress. Having social anxiety comes along with many implications such as a decrease in social skills, and problems with building and retaining relationships, and could also cause several obstacles throughout their daily activities. However, as many benefits as there is when it comes to CMC, there are also the downsides and the negative aspect. IM allows individuals to be able to interpret and infer messages wrongly, even if it was not the intended message from the sender. There are an insufficient amount of non-verbal cues such as gestures, tones, articulation, body language, and facial expressions for the receiver to gauge and catch on, which is what causes misinterpretation to happen. A study conducted by Dennis, Kinney, & Huang (1999), also highlights a key finding in which females are more susceptible to being sensitive to non-verbal communication, which makes them more conflicted with the absence of non-verbal cues due to their caring nature. CMC opens a window of ambiguity and vagueness, and this generates a challenge, especially for those who suffer from social anxiety. A study by Bryron (2008), proposed that individuals who scored higher in having higher levels of negative feelings and emotions have the tendency to look at messages more negatively than what is being intended in the first place by the receiver. There is a higher chance for these individuals to overthink and brood over messages with more severity than it actually is. But, there also comes the chance that it is possible that this disorder of social anxiety, may be connected with very comparable perceptive misrepresentation. Another reason why misinterpretation is so common via IM could be dependent on who the sender could be, which makes it possible for the influence of a receiver’s interpretation due to the characteristics of the sender. A study was also conducted, and it showed that individuals who have social anxiety expressed more negative cognitions compared to positive ones when making interactions with someone from the opposite sex, than the same. (Turner, Beidel, & Larkin, 1986) Hence, it could be derived that even though IM and CMC are very accessible and easy to turn to, messages could be very misleading or wrongly interpreted which may lead to other problems such as internal conflicts and could be detrimental to a millennial’s perception, resulting in an increased level of stress and anxiety.

Digital communication and technology such as IM and CMC have indeed made our lives significantly way more convenient, but one serious problem is that can be very addictive for millennials and essentially hurt their communication skills, after accumulating hours and hours being on screen. Millennials are latching and drawn into the digital world and slowly detaching themselves from the external and real-world, making it harder to disengage which results in health ramifications. Excessive screen time could lead to various health issues such as posture. While you associate bad posture habits with back or neck problems, it is in fact also linked to psychological issues, such as self-esteem and the frequency of mood swings as well as one’s productivity levels (Greenwood, 2019). An over-usage of screen time can also lead to eyesight problems, exhausting and over-straining them which can lead to the ability to concentrate and focus on something as well as increased sensitivity to light. When a millennial is addicted to CMC or IM, it is without a doubt that they’ll use their smart devices before bedtime, which could lead them to have insomnia, a very common issue amongst millennials. It messes with one’s body clock and also affects one’s alertness which could impact simple daily tasks. Too much screen usage due to IM or CMC may also alter one’s lifestyle making it sedentary. According to World Health Organization (n.d.), a sedentary lifestyle can lead to an increase in health problems and illnesses. To re-emphasize from earlier, not only is our physical health compromised but our psychological one as well. According to a national survey which was done by the University of Pittsburgh Center, (n.d), it was shown that millennials who were engaging in the range of seven to 11 social media platforms were at risk of having depression and anxiety problems as compared to individuals who engage in two or lesser.

There have been numerous studies conducted by researchers in the context of the effects of IM and CMC on millennials. Przybylski and Weinstein (2012), discussed how the advancement in communication technology has helped and allowed many individuals to engage and connect with one another easier even if they were miles apart. But not a lot has been uncovered on how the regular presence of these communication methods affects and influences face-to-face interaction in the various social settings. Another study conducted by Brignall and van Valley (2005), investigated the effects of technology and CMC based on millennials who have grown up being surrounded by a digital world, and the internet plays a big aspect on a day-to-day basis and interaction. It was analyzed that, due to the increase and common use of technology as well as the different modes of CMC during work meetings, forms of entertainment, and even in education, there has been an extensive decrease in face-to-face interactions. Because of this, it is suggested that the decrease of time spent on real interaction could actually have detrimental consequences and problems such as personal development, how they present themselves to others as well as the basic social skills. A survey based on 100 Elon University students on the effect of technology on face-to-face communication by Drago (2015), showed that individuals are relying more and more heavily on technology as the main mode of communicating with their family and friends and are currently neglecting to interact with one another personally, without the use of mobile devices even when being in the presence of others. This led to a result in knowing that a large number of students feel that their quality of the conversations declined significantly and are disturbed by the interferences of using technology during supposedly real-life quality time with one another.

Another notable effect of the excessive usage of CMC is that interpersonal skills worsen over time. The fact that the use of technology has been so prevalent in modern society, at a certain period, it should be encouraged that millennials try to avoid using an exorbitant amount of technology by communicating with one another. Alhadlaq (2016), advised that individuals who sought to advance in their level of proficiency in interpersonal skills should not be relying on using technology for all of their communication demands. To improve interpersonal skills, face-to-face communication is extremely important, and it plays a key role, it also comes in handy when it boils down to conflict resolution with other parties. Hence, it is vital that individuals should cut down on the amount of communication-based online with one another such as using IM, and should instead have face-to-face communication as and when if possible. Additionally, face-to-face communications also bridge ties and relationships closer and the quality of the conversation heightens with the various body language and tones included.

Digital communication has no doubt shaped the way we now communicate with one another, changing the style of our communication and removing the costs of conversations. CMC comes in different mediums like emails, video conferences, online chat, and social media platforms. One apt example is how during this Covid-19 season digital communication has become such a crucial and significant role in everyone’s lives. Individuals are all so heavily dependent on it, corporate companies and the schools just to name a few, are totally unable to function without it. However, digital communication has been so greatly incorporated into an individual’s life now and people are slowly losing touch in knowing how to communicate with one another during social interactions. This problem is not something that one should turn a blind eye to. Human communication as what was known previously has now changed forever. Nonetheless, the use of digital communication also serves a great function in keeping up with family members and peers. Individuals are able to make use of emoticons to express feelings that they might not be able to in real life and it also adds a touch of fun and playfulness. In short, digital communication and IM is able to heighten and deepen one’s experience, but an individual should always remember that finding and having a balance will benefit conversational skills but also, and real-life conversations are absolutely necessary and essential.

Written as a research paper at the University at Buffalo, 2020.