Is Social Networking Ruining the Development of Social Skills?

It seems like everybody is a part of a social media site nowadays—you, your parents, your grandparents and your pet may even have a Twitter or Facebook account. The trouble that I’ve witnessed firsthand is how it seems to be affecting legitimate social skills, particularly in younger users. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the whole aspect of communication amongst friends via posts and messaging seems to put a halt to the growth of social capabilities.

Taking into consideration the fact that you’re reading this blog, which by my interpretation makes you somewhat web savvy, ponder the following. How often did you call your friends and family to catch up and see what was new with them? Now compare that to how often you called your friends or family 5 – 10 years ago, which if this is the case, you may want to re-visit your cell phone plan to see if you’re actually using the 2,000 anytime minutes a month that you use to. It’s not necessary to call like we use to now that we know just about everything that’s going on in the lives of our friends and family by simply reading their posts and looking at their pictures. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though. It’s impossible to go just about anywhere nowadays and not see people consumed by texting, facebooking or tweeting. I know I’m not the only one who has seen people do it at their place of work, even if their place of work is in the service industry where customers require the attention of the staff. Texting has seem to take over. Do u no wat I mean?

My real concern is about the progression of communication and how it’s going to eventually affect the workplace—particularly in the customer service industry. I realize that some things in life just some with experience, but being able to communicate and interact shouldn’t. Like I said… I see kids on their phones texting away all the time, but they’re like a deer in headlights when it comes to answering a question in person. What are your thoughts on this?