How is communication today affecting our lives?  Has it helped us or hurt us? Interaction with others has become primarily by strokes on a keyboard and the push of buttons on a phone rather than face to face. Social media and electronic communication today play a major role in everyday life.  

Communication is becoming primarily electronic and can seem impersonal. Instead of calling a friend on the phone or knocking on a neighbor's door, you can send them a quick text or email.  Most businesses use email and texting to contact and interact with their employees and customers for a number of reasons.  Most also use some form of social media to advertise.  There are approximately 7 billion cell phones, 4.1 billion email accounts, and 1.2 billion Facebook accounts in use worldwide today. Of those 1.2 billion Facebook accounts, 728 million are accessed daily. Whether or not you prefer these methods of communication, they are here to stay and seem to be growing.

People argue that social media and all the advances in technology hurt us and help us at the same time. We are now able to interact with people all over the world more quickly and conveniently than before.  We can have wider audiences and advertise to a greater number of people. On the other side, we can easily say things without a filter and lacking any emotion.  You can't always tell what a text or email may really mean to say or if somebody is joking or not.  You can’t send feelings through a text or a post on social media. There are other negative issues that can arise from these types of interactions such as cyberbullying, online predators, and cybercrime.

I have had an online experience of my own . For the last year I have been playing on Xbox with a kid that my grandparents got me in contact with. It was just recently that I met him in person at a Chanukah party. I was unsure of whethter or not we would be friends outside of the online world, but when we met, we got along great.  I'm glad to have been able to meet and speak with him in person.  My whole opinion of him was affected.

The world is full of different forms of communication.  Modern communication is shaping and affecting our lives on a daily basis.  Personal relationships and business relationships are formed and continued through electronic communication every day.  There are pros and cons and differences of opinion across the board.  What works for one person may not for another.  However, it is almost necessary at this point to jump into the present and get with technology.  It seems to be the way of the future and here to stay.