The development of smartphones and social media has made it easier to communicate, but relationships are becoming more superficial rather than deeper in quality. We need to consider the impact of these technological advances on human relationships and make efforts to form deeper relationships.
According to a survey of smartphone users in Korea, more than 70% of people spend more than 10 hours a day with their smartphones, and a survey on smartphone usage behavior showed that more than 80% of smartphone users use messengers and SNS. Smartphones are packed with features, but at the end of the day, people use them primarily to communicate with other people, which is the primary function of a cell phone. This shows how much modern people rely on their smartphones. As smartphones have become more than just a communication tool, they’ve become an integral part of our daily lives, and we can’t go a day without them. This dependence stems from the convenience and instant connectivity that smartphones provide, and it underscores the impact that technological advancements have on our lives. The difference from the cell phones of the past is that the scope of communication has grown to support many-to-one and many-to-many, rather than one-to-one. This has been made possible by advances in electrical engineering, telecommunications, computer science, and other fields that allow us to process, send, and receive more data. In addition, these technological advances have opened the door to global communication, and people now routinely communicate across borders. This has made smartphones more than just a means of communication, but part of a global network.
With smartphones, people can access web services anytime, anywhere, and visit their friends’ websites, and anyone can easily visit and view their own websites. This convenience doesn’t have to be expensive. In the past, when the data communication network was not well developed, you had to pay a lot of money to use even a small amount of data. However, nowadays, thanks to the spread of stable communication networks and advances in data transmission technology, anyone can get high-quality communication opportunities at a much more reasonable cost.
So how has our ability to communicate with others changed our relationships? Many things have changed, but one of the most significant is social media. The development of social media has made the physical distance between people irrelevant. Geographical location and time zones are no longer a barrier to communication. This has expanded the scope of human relationships and allowed us to connect with a wider variety of people. Social media makes it easy to keep up with what’s going on around you, and it’s easy to upload your own posts. It’s also easy to make friends, so it’s not hard to have more than 100 friends on social media. It“s not just about reducing the cost of communication, it”s also about reducing the cost of forming relationships. While these technological advances have many benefits, they also have some negative side effects. The ease with which human connections can be made has often diluted their quality and made them superficial. Next, there are various chat sites that utilize real-time web service technology and data communication networks. Most of these sites allow anonymous users to come together to talk about the same topic and, if they are compatible, arrange to meet. For example, they make it easy for like-minded people to meet up on topics like food, travel, and relationships. You don’t have to search for people with the same hobbies, tastes, or interests because you’re already a member of the site, which means you already have common interests. While these services offer new opportunities and fun for people, the anonymity and non-face-to-face nature of these services can lead to relationships that lack trust and accountability. The internet is also geographically agnostic, making it easy to make friends with people from other countries. This is what social networks do: they make it easy and comfortable to form relationships.
However, despite the ease of forming relationships, it doesn’t seem that people today are getting more satisfaction from them. In fact, in many cases, the quality of our relationships has actually decreased despite the increase in quantity. This is because people are seeking instant gratification through technology, while struggling to form deeper relationships. Social media alone has already been identified as one of the biggest causes of internet addiction by the National Center for Internet Addiction Prevention and Counseling, and its negative effects have been recognized. Excessive immersion in social media can lead to depression and escapism, as people often confuse real and virtual relationships and feel frustrated. Furthermore, the relationships we have on social media are not the same as the social connections we feel in real life. There is a growing body of research that shows that having a large number of followers or friends does not indicate real social support or deep relationships. Having a lot of friends in the virtual world is not the same as the satisfaction you get from human relationships. Chatting sites also have their side effects. There are statistics that show that it takes less time for people to break up with their partners who met on chat sites. This is because the relationships between people are often superficial and temporary. If you can create a relationship quickly and easily, it’s easy to replace it. It’s easy to meet someone else, even if it’s not necessarily that person. Of course, this isn’t the case for everyone, but having the option to choose someone else makes it easier to move on. This doesn’t just apply to romantic relationships. Services that were started to make it easier to share the same hobbies or meet like-minded people can also make relationships easier.
Of course, technology has given us a great gift for human relationships. It has dramatically reduced the cost of communication. We can communicate more and talk more because we can talk to five people in the time it takes to talk to one, and in certain situations, ten. But people aren’t five or ten times as well connected. This is because a simple increase in numbers does not mean an improvement in the quality of relationships. On the contrary, maintaining many relationships reduces the amount of attention and energy that can be devoted to each one, and the result is likely to be superficial. The reason this simple proportionality doesn’t hold is that relationships are more about quality than quantity. Many of today’s social services are aimed at increasing quantity. They offer the opportunity to make more friends and organize more gatherings through easy communication. However, this is often at the expense of the satisfaction that comes from relationships.
While there are individual differences between people, there is a limit to the amount of attention we can give. This is a barrier that no one can fully overcome due to the storage and memory limitations of the human brain. This limit is an important factor in determining the amount and depth of information we can physiologically and psychologically experience in a day. If we try to take in and digest too much information, we end up not remembering anything properly. However, the satisfaction you get from a relationship doesn’t increase quickly. It takes a certain amount of attention, time, and communication to form a deep connection and gain satisfaction. Too many opportunities to communicate, on the other hand, hinders the development of close relationships. Just like if you put too many seeds in a pot, the water and nutrients will be distributed and not all of them will grow, and you will end up distributing your attention elsewhere before reaching the point of deep satisfaction in a relationship. Kwon Seok-man, a professor of psychology at Seoul National University, categorizes this type of relationship as superficial, which he defines as having many friends but no one with whom you share your true, deepest feelings. People who have a lot of superficial relationships are not good at forming deep relationships, and these superficial relationships can often have a negative impact on their identity and self-esteem. People who have a lot of superficial relationships are not good at forming deep relationships and are afraid to tell others about themselves. It’s easy to form superficial relationships on social media and chat sites, and they often don’t get the satisfaction they deserve from the attention they put into the relationship.
Superficial relationships are not only related to the quantity of communication, but also to the quality. For example, communication on the internet relies primarily on text and images. While this is quick and easy, it has its limitations when it comes to creating an emotional connection. Text and photos are the primary means of communication on the internet. While you can express yourself through well-organized texts and photos, the average web service will only ask you to say hello with a short text. Not only is it difficult to maintain intimacy and bonding with such fragmented information, but there is also the possibility of misinterpreting the text. Another qualitative problem is that the means of communication on the Internet are imperfect. The only way to get to know someone on a chat site is through a short profile and a photo. With this little background, it’s hard to know if someone is trustworthy or what kind of personality they have when communicating through short texts. As a result, people often form a distorted image of the other person, which can lead to unnecessary conflict in real-life relationships. This is because we lack the information that we would get in person, such as facial expressions and gestures. This lack of information can lead to superficial relationships rather than intimate and responsible ones.
These superficial relationships can be addictive because of the novelty of the relationship. When you first meet someone new, you don’t know anything about them, so what they say sounds very fresh. Some people become addicted to this initial novelty. They can’t stand the familiarity that comes after the initial sweet newness and can’t stop themselves from getting into another relationship. This is psychologically related to the desire to constantly seek new stimuli. This tendency is especially pronounced in the modern world, and it prevents them from forming lasting and deep relationships. These people often exhibit social media addiction or meetup addiction and enjoy meeting new people, but have trouble forming long-term relationships.
So, what can we do to address this superficial relationship addiction? The first solution you might think of is to stop advancing further. However, stopping technological progress is neither realistically possible nor desirable. Technological progress has many positive effects on human society, and it would be a great loss to ignore it and stop it. If we were to stop it and go back to a time when there were fewer opportunities to communicate, people would again share their attention with a limited number of people around them. However, in reality, it would be very inefficient to stop advancing technology. The advancement of science and technology has accomplished so much in other areas besides human relationships, and it’s something we should continue to pursue for the broader purpose of improving the quality of life. However, stopping all technological advancements because of a single problem with human relationships is like burning down a thatched house to get rid of bedbugs.
So instead of stopping technological progress, we should be looking for ways to utilize technology more wisely. This involves not just how we use technology, but also constantly evaluating and adjusting its impact on our lives and relationships. The essence of the problem is not the advancement of technology, but the fact that people are communicating with too many people and with too little quality. Technology merely provides opportunities for this communication, and it’s up to the individual to embrace them. How people use technology can make a huge difference in the outcome. Without awareness, technology can lead to superficiality and isolation rather than enriching our lives. The opportunity to interact with other people is very sweet. You can quickly feel the freshness of connecting with someone new and feel like you’re building a broader network of relationships. But relationships aren’t just about numbers. Even if you have hundreds of friends on Messenger, there’s only a certain number of people you can give attention to. It’s important not to increase the number of people you can give attention to beyond your capacity. You don’t have to limit your relationships on purpose, but you’ll get the most satisfaction over time if you stay within your means. People shouldn’t waste their time trying to meet multiple people, but rather find the person who can maximize their satisfaction in a relationship, and in their relationship with that person, they should aim for real-life communication rather than imperfect communication on the web. Only then will people understand the value of real relationships and experience deeper and more meaningful connections. This means selectively accepting communication opportunities and improving the quality of communication.
To do this, people who use social media, chat sites, and other services that provide human connections should think about a few things before making a connection. First, it’s important to recognize the number of people you can give your attention to. As we mentioned above, the amount of attention a person can give is limited. Of course, your maximum attention threshold will change depending on your circumstances and how you’re feeling, but recognizing that it exists and having a sense of where it is is a necessary condition for preventing relationships from overextending themselves. It’s important for individuals to recognize their own limits and form relationships accordingly. It is important for individuals to recognize their own limits and to form relationships accordingly.
Once you know how much interaction you can tolerate, you need to be careful to get to know the other person. This is especially important when building relationships online. Because of the anonymity and virtual nature, people are more likely to exaggerate or misrepresent themselves. In any relationship, it’s important to get to know the other person. But online, you need to be more careful because the means of communication are imperfect. Users of social networks, chat sites, etc. need to remember that even if they think they know someone well in the virtual world, the information they have is second-hand, obtained through short texts and photos. Therefore, it is important to develop relationships with people offline as much as possible to improve the quality of real-life relationships. It is also important to remember that even if the other person is trustworthy, communication on the web is indirect, so it is necessary to meet in the real world to build intimacy and bonds.
In the end, we need to think deeply about how to maintain and develop genuine human relationships while enjoying the benefits of technology. There’s no doubt that technology is a great way to enrich our lives. However, just as swallowing food in a hurry can lead to weight gain, so too can accepting technology without taking the time to consider its implications and anticipate its effects. To prevent this, we need to take the time to think about the impact of the technology and the possible side effects. This will give you a better idea of how you should embrace the technology and what you should be wary of. The problem with technology is that it creates too many opportunities to communicate and imperfect means of communication. What we need to solve this problem is the insight to understand exactly how we should embrace technology and what it has to offer. Through this reflection, we will be able to find a balance between technology and human relationships. If we don’t have the attitude of creating and managing relationships here and there, but rather selectively create relationships with others and take care of them with constant attention, we will be able to use social media, chat sites, and other services wisely.
