Issue

Social Media as a Communication Tool in Strengthening Family Relationships

Materials

5 support (Pro side)

Academic Help. (2015, March 25). How Social Media Affects Family Relationships.
Retrieved from https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/cause-
effect/social-media-family.html

Christensen, S. (2018, June 01). Social Media Use and Its Impact on Relationships and
Emotions. Retrieved from https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=7927&context=etd

Khalid, A. (2017, May 17). Impact of Internet on Social Connections in Family System: A
Survey Study of Residents in Lahore. Retrieved from https://www.omicsonline.
org/open-access/impact-of-internet-on-social-connections-in-family-system-a-
surveystudy-of-residents-in-lahore-2151-6200-1000270.php?aid=89875

Stepp, G. (2013). Doing “Social” on the Net. Retrieved from https://www.vision.org/

using-social-media-technology-to%20build-positive-relationships-120

Taylor, J. (2013, March 13). Is Technology Creating a Family Divide? Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201303/is-
technology-creating-family-divide

5 disputes (Con side)

Adebowale. (2017). Social Media And The Family. Retrieved from https://leadership.ng/
2017/06/25/social-media-family/

Ekern, J. (2017, March 26). Impact of Social Media Addiction in Families. Retrieved
from https://www.addictionhope.com/blog/social-media-addiction-families/

Macleighob. (2018). Social Media and its Impact on Families. Retrieved from
https://macleighob.wordpress.com/social-media-and-its-impact-on-families/

Nortcentral University. (2017, May 1). The Dangers Of Social Media On Marriage And
Family. Retrieved from https://www.ncu.edu/blog/dangers-social-media-marriage-
and-family#gref
Salgur, S. (2016, March). How Does The Use Of Social Networking Affect Family
Communication Of Teenagers? Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/303898731_HOW_DOES_THE_USE_OF_SOCIAL_NETWORKING_
AFFECT_FAMILY_COMMUNICATION_OF_TEENAGERS

Negative Effects of Social Media to Family Relationships:

- Social media (networks) are massively addictive. Most people I know check and
interact on social sites constantly throughout the day. And they have no idea how
much actual time they spend on social media.
- We want to learn, share, and interact from the comfort of our mobile devices
more than ever.
- However, as technologies have become more and more advanced, this private,
intimate space has shrunk. Today, in the era of social media, relationships in
many families have changed, since social media affects these relationships
- About 30% of people are now using all kinds of gadgets, including cell phones,
tablets, and so on, to talk to their loved ones through social media services,
instead of having a conversation with them in person.
- One person out of five admitted they learned what their family members were
doing by checking their statuses online, not by asking them personally—even
though they might be sitting in the next room (Macleighob).
- a study on media influence done by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that
young people from the age of 8 to 18 years tend to spend about seven hours a
day using entertainment media, which makes a total of approximately 50 hours
per week. This means that during this time, they are not exercising, hanging out,
communicating with their families, or getting involved in intimate relationships.
- The study suggests such young people often tend to be mentally absent when
being with a group of friends or family
- They may face difficulties connected to social adaptation and acceptance, as well
as excessive body weight and communication problems. (Academic Help)

- Results revealed that the more time an individual spent on social media the more
likely they were to experience a negative impact on their overall emotional
wellbeing and decreased quality in their relationships

- Emotional well-being also mediated the relationship between time spent using
social media and the quality of that user’s relationships, meaning that the more
time a person spent on social media the more likely their emotional wellbeing
declined which then negatively impacted their relationships.
- The results from H1a revealed that the more time an individual spent on social
media the more the quality of their relationships decreased. This supports
findings by Kerkhof et al. (2011) who also found that those with high compulsive
Internet use experienced decreased offline relationship quality
- social media use offers more negative consequences than benefits (Christensen)

- First, children’s absorption in technology, from texting to playing video

games, does by their very nature limit their availability to communicate with
their parents. One study found that when the working parent arrived home after
work, his or her children were so immersed in technology that the parent was
greeted only 30 percent of the time and was totally ignored 50 percent of
the time. Another study reported that family time was not affected when
technology was used for school, but did hurt family communications when
used for social reasons. Interestingly, children who spent considerable time
on a popular social networking site indicated that they felt less supported
by their parents.
- Because of the lack of technological acumen on the part of many parents,
they lack the authority, at least in the eyes of their children, to regulate its
use. Due to parents’ anxiety or apprehension about the use of technology, they
may be unwilling to assert themselves in their children’s technological lives.
Because of their children’s sense of superiority and lack of respect for
parents’ authority in these matters, children may be unwilling to listen to
their parents’ attempts to guide or limit their use of technology.
- New technology offers children independence from their parents’
involvement in their social lives, with the use of mobile phones, instant
messaging, and social networking sites. Of course, children see this
technological divide between themselves and their parents as freedom
from over-involvement and intrusion on the part of their parents in their
lives. Parents, in turn, see it as a loss of connection to their children and an
inability to maintain reasonable oversight, for the sake of safety and over-
all health, of their children’s lives. At the same time, perhaps a bit cynically,
children’s time-consuming immersion in technology may also mean that parents
don’t have to bother with entertaining their children, leaving them more time to
themselves.
- Parents can be equally guilty of contributing to the distance that appears to be
increasing in families. They are often wrapped up in their own technology, for
example, talking on their mobile phones, checking email, or watching TV, when
they could be talking to, playing with, or generally connecting with their children.
- Less connection—the real kind—means that families aren’t able to build
relationships as strong as they could be nor are they able to maintain them
as well. As a result, children will feel less familiarity, comfort, trust, security, and,
most importantly, love from their parents. There is also less sharing which means
 that parents know less about what is going on in their children’s lives and,
consequently, have less ability to exert influence over them. Parents are also
less able to not only offer appropriate supervision and guidance, but, at a more
basic level, they are less able to model healthy behavior, share positive values,
and send good messages to their children. (Taylor)

- The Internet is in fact the latest mode of communication and socialization and it is
reducing face-to-face or telephone contact. On the other hand Internet is
widening the gap among individuals by isolating them and reducing the time
spent participating in social activities. (Khalid)

- Unfortunately people become addicted to the social media and the number is
growing each day. It is possible for any addict to have direct impact on the family,
because members of the family may experience isolation when an addict is
obsessively using social media they become quickly disengaged with their
surroundings.
- In our modern Day today, the social media has taken over the good and cordial
relationship among family members, where parents has no intimate relationship
with their children because everybody have developed relationship on phone with
friends. The beautiful time that one is supposed to spend with the family is
already taken away by social media.
Parents no longer have time for their children instead of them to sit and talk with
them they leave them with social media which have both negative and positive
side on them.
- The negative effects of social media on the family cannot be over emphasized as
it is clearly seen in most Nigerian home that parents that spend much time on
social media spend less with their families and also children that spend much
time on social media are tend to have bad behavior.(Balami)

- Psychologists are increasingly concerned that technology is breaking down

family communication.
- It can rob families of attention, communication, and a feeling of safety within the
family unit.
- Many children reported that they felt their parents were addicted to their phone or
computer. Children stated a desire for their parents to spend quality time and
interact with them. This study shows the need for family social interaction and the
lines are blurred on when is enough with social media use.
- Most often technology can bring forth negative interaction, or zero interaction
between siblings, couples, or parent-child. It starves the family of learning and
 modeling with each other social cues, interpersonal relationship skills,
communication skills, and bonding.
- We may feel that we are connected through social media, but it strips us of our
ability to hear and see verbal and nonverbal messages.
- Children mimic what they are taught, and when parents use electronics while
sitting at a playground with their children, the children were found to more likely
engage in risky behaviors [5].
- And when children who spent a significant amount of time on social network sites
stated they felt less supported by their parents [2].
- Parents are more involved on their phones, with work and personal
responsibilities blurred. Too often are parents working at home, and spending
more time on technology than with children or partners. (Ekern)
Positive Effects of Social Media to Family Relationships:
- children and parents have gained a powerful tool of communication
- communicating in person might be difficult for both teenagers and their parents
during the “teenage rioting” period, social networks provide a valuable
opportunity for communication.

- As social beings, it is natural for us to want to connect with those around us and
social media has certainly made it easier to do so (Christensen)

- . Due to internet, now we have many new channels of communication which

include different social Networking Sites, instant messaging, email, blogging,
Viber, Whats app, Internet TV and many more mass communication channels
which are speedily flourishing today.
- People are seriously reliant on the new media tools and technologies to satisfy
their needs.
- Internet allows its users to enhance or maintain their online social capital by
increasing various online group actions and activities.
- Internet usage helps in expanding virtual social capital it helps in increasing
online contacts, and result in strengthening virtual ties.
- 73% respondents agree that they use the internet to get to know new people, as
it helps the users to increase their online social capital. (Khalid)

- . It is a useful tool that is frequently used as part of daily personal and

professional lives. As technology continue to advance, the number of people
using the internet is rapidly growing.
- Looking from an optimistic perspective, children and parents have gained a
powerful tool of communication. Indeed while communicating in person might be
difficult for both teenagers and their parents during the so called “teenagers
 rioting” period, the social network provide a valuable opportunity for
communication. (Balami)

- technology can be used to keep families connected. It can help members keep
track of schedules, location, and a sense of security between members that
parents and/or children can be reached immediately if needed.
- Researchers are finding that individuals communicate more often with family and
friends due to technology, but the style and type of communication is potentially
weaker [7]. (Ekern)
Recommendations:
- these media services should be used with caution.

- ? This may require taking a break from social media for a short while and taking
inventory of our lives in order to better see what needs social media has been
gratifying and then to make the choice of either continuing to use social media to
fill those needs to or to find alternative sources of gratification that are more
lasting. (Christensen)

- The results infer that internet itself is not a problem, problem occurs when people
use it in a wrong way. Internet could turn into a socially isolating tool if people
utilize it to avoid face to face contact with social capital and to escape from the
real world real world relations and activities. (Khalid)

- If we hope to use technology constructively, we might concentrate on using

online social networks as a practice arena for learning public social skills, just as
siblings or play dates serve as practice arenas for toddlers to learn intimate or
one-on-one social skills. The purpose of connecting with others, whether online
or off, is to foster positive relationships. As tempting as it may be to blame
technology when we fail to do this, the evidence suggests that we are rather
more personally the architects of our own destruction. It only takes a cursory
glance back at our history to confirm that we always have been. (Stepp)

- In order to amend this, parents are expected to plan their schedule and spend
more time with their children and children should also avoid sites and chat
groups that are not helpful to them. (Balami)

- It is important for interpersonal connection with families. Kids want to be hugged,

listened too, and spend quality time with family members. Kids don’t want to be
texted or feel they have to compete with their parents against screen time.
- Working to increase quality family time without technology is important.
 - Learning to interact with each other face-to-face and modeling healthy
communication and interpersonal relationships. (Ekern)

- Don’t use social media as a negative point of comparison for your relationship.
- Spend time nurturing your relationship. “Do things that create closeness in
your relationship,” encourages Adamson, “and do them regularly without
distraction.” (NCU)

A.1.b. = from the age of 8 to 18 years tend to spend about seven hours a day using
entertainment media, meaning, they
A.1.c. = It starves the family of learning and modeling with each other social cues,
interpersonal relationship skills, communication skills, and bonding.
A.1.d. = The beautiful time that one is supposed to spend with the family is already
taken away by social media. Parents no longer have time for their children instead of
them to sit and talk with them they leave them with social media which have both
negative and positive side on them.

B.1.a. = the more likely they were to experience a negative impact on their overall
emotional wellbeing and decreased

I. Your Argument
A. Social media is a great factor that distracts the people in nurturing family
relationships.
1. Social media may promote communication, but it is also a tool that
hinders users to interact and initiate conversation in person.
a. According to Macleighob (2018), one out of five persons
admitted they learned what their family members were doing by
checking their statuses online, not by asking them personally—
even though they might be sitting in the next room.
b. A study on media influence by the Kaiser Family Foundation
shows that young people are not allocating their time in
communicating with their families or getting involved in intimate
relationships due to extensive use of social media.
 c. Social media is widening the gap among individuals by creating
zero interaction between siblings, couples, or parent-child.
d. Parents nowadays, has no intimate relationship with their
children because everybody has developed relationship on
phone with friends.

2. The uncontrolled use of social media also suggests young people to be

mentally absent when being with a group of friends or family.
a. Study shows that when an individual spends more time on
social media, it negatively impacts the quality of their
relationships with their family.
b. Users may feel that we are connected through social media, but
it strips them of their ability to hear and see verbal and
nonverbal messages.

A. 1. = Social media may promote communication, but it is also a tool that hinders users
to interact and initiate conversation in person.