In today’s society, it is impossible to do without communication with messengers. Social networks like Instagram, Tic-Tok, and Facebook have firmly entered our lives, and now some people find it easier to write a message than to call.
The average person spends more than seven hours a day on messengers. Not surprisingly, both communication and society as a whole have changed. How? Let’s find out.
Why does this happen?
The reason is simple: people almost always have no time. We live in such a crazy rhythm that there is no time to visit relatives or meet friends. The pandemic has made its adjustments. Now even the slightest sign of a cold is considered a serious reason for isolation. How, then, to stay in touch with loved ones? That’s right, with the help of messengers.
It’s worth it to connect via video – and it’s like you’ve already seen everyone: you’ve shown the repairs at home, you’ve seen your friends’ new pet. We are always there, but all the time away. And this is a paradox of our time.
Some people are fine with it, while others feel lonely and miss live communication. Studies by Ipsos have confirmed that video calls have become the most popular in 2020. Almost everyone who often used this service prefers this method of communication even today. This suggests that people increasingly prefer messengers to live communication.
Writing messages
You can freely record voice messages, and amplify text with emoji, stickers, masks, etc. All the words are written for us by T9. But all this has led to the fact that people forget the basic rules of grammar and punctuation. Words are abbreviated, punctuation is skipped, and slang is progressing.
If a young man writes a message to a girl without mistakes, without parentheses, and with capital letters, and during a conversation uses the words “please,” “excuse me” or address “you,” he will be considered a bore. Isn’t that cause for panic?
A whole series of new rules of correspondence has been formed. For example, it is considered impolite to send voice messages, because the recipient may not be able to listen to them. And it is also considered unacceptable to make calls without consulting a messenger.
Online shopping
It is easy to store online, and order movie tickets and tickets for travel through an application. Rarely do people pay for utilities at post offices – now they do it in a personal online account, which is extremely convenient and easy. There is no need to talk to salespeople in person, and this pleases those who have always been afraid to talk to a stranger or do not like intrusive people. A student can even buy a college essay without leaving home through a special website.
Firms are increasingly using client communication with bots, which already have a certain algorithm of communication and all the answers to questions. And meanwhile, most customers are comfortable when you can switch from a chatbot to a real consultant.
What does it lead to? We are afraid to talk on the street, lazy to go out to the store. Online stores, businesses, and companies also need to change the style of communication and train staff to conduct dialogue in messengers, because the traditional style of communication is no longer applicable there.
Nurturing and Educational Moments
Online learning has become the norm. It is convenient for children and parents: there is no need to leave home, go somewhere, you can study from vacation or on sick leave.
Children used to develop all their social skills in the yards, but now all this has been transferred to messengers. It is there that children learn to communicate in all kinds of situations because writing to a classmate and a teacher are not the same thing.
On the Internet children can develop their creative skills: shooting video clips, photography, poetry, drawing, etc. With the help of messengers, they can get approval, comments, and criticism in their address, and take it all calmly.
The sources of information are changing
If previously everyone preferred to learn the news from TV or printed media, today young families have television as their last purchase. News can be found in messengers: they are more visual, lively, and immediate. Today there is no subscription to newspapers and magazines, but you can read the electronic version or, as a last resort, visit the website of the newspaper you need.
The new culture
Under the influence of messengers, entire cultural trends are taking shape. Have you heard of chat fiction? And it’s short stories or even novels in the style of messenger conversations. Young people today don’t read much classic literature, but new formats are very welcome.
Guys are writing fanfics or their own stories based on the works.
Chat stories are very popular, where people share stories about love and friendship, studies, funny cases from life. All of this contributes to the development of thinking and writing skills.