郭晓阳

Its no surprise that the widespread use of social media for communicating ideas， personal and professional stories and experiences has had a profound effect on the overall way people communicate today. But not all are bad.

Social media effects on communication

Around 3 billion people use social media today， which means that 40% of the world uses social media for communication.

11% of adults reported preferring staying home on Facebook than going out on the weekend. Communication is affected in ways such as personal expression， our expectations of others， and the way companies communicate with customers.

Information overload

Many people tend to binge on social media， spending hours and hours scrolling through sites. Ultimately， this may lead to a constant craving of more internet and more social media consumption. The more people get， the more they want—and its hard to stop the cycle.

Young people read news

Social media has made reading the news cool again. According to Wibbitz1， 23% of young users get news from social media， and a whopping 61% get political news from Facebook. On social media， people share interesting news they read， and they can follow various news sources pages.

Getting the full picture

Stories—a part of Instagram， Snapchat， and Facebook—mean that people get the full picture of an event， activity， or occurrence in someones life. We no longer just get a snapshot of a home-cooked meal， we might see the entire process from start to finish.

This has changed the way people think about what to post—there is much less thought put into a post when it is a story that will be erased after 24 hours.

Boredom in conversation

Heres a sad social media effect on communication. We are becoming bored when we have real， in-person conversations. People have such a need for social media consumption and that instant， colorful feedback only social media can give， they will often become bored during real conversations， resorting to their phones. This can lead to a decrease in the quality and number of meaningful conversations.

Reactions to non-verbal， emotional， and social cues

In-person reactions to non-verbal， emotional， or social cues are changing in that people dont need to respond to these types of communication when they are online. This leads to less experience and awareness of others needs based on these types of cues that can only be received from in-person communication.

Sense of urgency

No one has to wait for longer than a few hours for a response， and people have come to expect that timeline for conversations. There is so much of a sense of urgency that people are often anxious if they havent heard back from a family member， friend， or partner in a number of hours.

Need to share

Social media has created a feeling among users that they must share whatever they are doing—from restaurant orders， to concerts， to the books they are reading. This can be a social media positive effect because people are getting more exposure to things they might not otherwise， such as new reads. But it can also be a negative effect as it can urge people to become dependent on posting anything occurring in their own lives and painting those occurrences as rosier than they truly are.

How we value ourselves

When people see others having a wonderful life， as represented on social media， they tend to have a negative self-image， and start to devalue their own ways of life. In addition， there is a feeling of needing to paint an inaccurately positive and ‘fun version of ones own life which leads to feelings of negativity about ones ‘real life.

Inside perspective of afar

One of the positive effects of social media is the ability to get an intimate view of other cultures and places. With social media users are able to see what others are doing around the world. People are exposed to travel ideas， new cultures， and ways of life unlike before.

Broadcasting live

Broadcasting live started as a fun， innocent idea to share lifes moments， but its transformed to become a large part of political movements， sharing some dark aspects of todays society. The option to post live videos has created an important platform for serious issues that need to be spoken about.

Personalized digital messages

People can now completely change their own faces with selfie filters， or draw pictures to send to friends， and more. Creativity soars， which is a great thing， but people can start to spend too much time personalizing picture messages.

Communication style

Summarized writing

Starting with the limited character text messaging of the 2000s， and nowadays with the 140-character tweet， messages have been getting shorter and more concise. Other areas of communication have adapted for summarized writing as well， such as in shortened work memos， shortened academic communication between students and professors， and shortened messages in advertising.

Abbreviations

The abbreviated style of communicating that became popular when text messaging started in the 00s has continued into online conversations. It has also made its way into traditionally non-abbreviated forms of communication such as spoken language， email communication， and even academic forms of writing.

This has caused concern among some academics， citing studies that show a causation between “textese” and negative effects on literacy skills such as writing skills and reading accuracy. Other studies show that using “textese” has no effect on spelling ability， or correct grammar use.

Unfiltered Interactions

Social media and internet interactions offer a veil between the person sending and the person receiving the message. These interactions are no longer face to face， and this can lead to some unfiltered conversations as people feel they can say anything with no repercussions.

GIFs and emojis

The introduction of using emojis to illustrate a written message or a GIF to express a reaction may seem fun and innocent， but it is also interfering with our ability to properly craft a written response. It ends up being too tempting to respond with a small picture， or a funny moving photo than to use the mind to create a response with words from scratch.

Viral messages

That quick and easy “share” button on so many social media platforms has led to the phenomenon of “going viral.” Messages， videos， and other content can be easily shared between platforms with millions of people in a matter of days.

廣泛使用社交媒体交流思想，分享生活、职场中的故事和经历，毫无意外地对当下人们的总体沟通方式产生了深远影响。但这些影响并非都是不好的方面。

社交媒体对交流的影响

目前有约30亿人使用社交媒体，也就是说全世界人口的40%使用社交媒体进行交流。

11%的成年人称周末更喜欢待在家里刷脸书，而不愿出门。交流受到诸多方面的影响，例如个人表达、我们对他人的期望，以及企业与客户的沟通方式等。

信息过载

许多人常常沉迷社交媒体，花费大量时间浏览网站。这最终可能导致其总渴望更多使用互联网及社交媒体。得到越多，渴望越多，如此循环，难以停息。

年轻人看新闻

社交媒体使看新闻重新成为时尚。根据Wibbitz网站的统计，23%的年轻用户从社交媒体获取新闻资讯，高达61%的年轻用户从脸书获取政治新闻。人们在社交媒体上分享看到的有趣资讯，还能关注各种新闻源主页。

全面了解

通过照片墙、色拉布、脸书的“故事”功能，人们可以全面了解别人生活中的大小事情或活动。我们不再只是看到一道家常菜的照片，而是能目睹烹饪的整个过程。

这样，人们思考发布内容时的心态便起了变化。如果发布的“故事”24小时后就会删除，发帖的顾虑就少了很多。

厌倦交谈

这是社交媒体对交流的一个负面影响。对于现实的面对面交谈，我们开始感到厌倦。人们如此渴求使用社交媒体，渴求只有社交媒体才能给予的即时生动反馈，结果，人们在现实的交谈中经常感到无聊，只能诉诸手机。这会导致有益的交谈数量减少，质量下滑。

对非语言、情绪及社交提示的反应

对于非语言、情绪或社交提示的当面反应在发生变化，因为人们在网上无须对此类交流做出回应。这类提示只有在当面交流时才能收到，因此根据此类提示体会及感受他人需求的能力都会下降。

紧迫感

谁都不必花几小时以上的时间等待一条回复，于是人们开始在交谈中也抱有这样的期望。人们怀着一种强烈的紧迫感，如果几个小时没有得到家人、朋友或伴侣的回应，他们往往会焦躁不安。

分享的需求

社交媒体在用户中创造了一种氛围，就是无论他们在做什么，从餐厅点菜，到看演唱会，再到读书，都必须分享出来。这可以说是社交媒体好的一面，因为人们更多地接触到他们原本可能接触不到的事物，例如新的读物。但这也会成为社交媒体坏的一面，因为会促使人们沉迷于把自身生活中发生的一切事情都发布到网上，并在原本的基础上加以美化。

自我评价

当人们看到别人在社交媒体呈现出精彩人生时，往往会产生负面的自我形象，进而开始贬低自己的生活方式。除此之外，还会感觉有必要背离事实，把自己的生活描绘成一副积极、“快乐”的样貌，导致对“真实的”生活产生负面情绪。

透彻观察世界

社交媒体的一个正面影响是能够透彻观察其他文化和地区。通过社交媒体，用户可以目睹全世界人民的生活。人们可以接触到与以往迥然不同的旅游理念、全新文化及生活方式。

直播

直播的初衷有趣且单纯，是为了分享生活片段，但業已转变成为政治活动的一个重要组成部分，用于分享当下社会的一些阴暗面。实时视频发布功能为探讨严肃议题创造了一个重要的平台。

自定义数字信息

人们现在可以使用自拍滤镜彻底改变自己的相貌，或绘制图像发送给好友，如此等等。创造力飙升是件好事，但自定义图像信息可能会花费人们太多时间。

交流方式

概要式书写

从21世纪头10年限定文本字符数开始，到如今推文的140个字符，信息不断变短，愈发精简。其他交流方式也顺应了概要式书写，例如工作备忘录缩短了，学生与教授间的学术交流减少了，广告中的信息也变短了。

缩写

21世纪前10年短信兴起，缩写式交流流行开来，现已延伸至网上对话。这种交流风格还渗透到不使用缩写的传统交流方式中，如口语、电子邮件，乃至学术写作。

这引起了部分学者的担忧，他们举研究为例来证明“短信文法”会对写作技巧及阅读准确度等读写技能产生负面影响。其他研究则表明，使用“短信文法”不会影响拼写能力或正确使用语法。

不经思考的互动

社交媒体及网上互动在信息发送者与接收者之间树起了一道屏障。这类互动不再是面对面的，人们感觉自己可以随意说话，而不承担任何后果，因此可能导致部分对话未经思索脱口而出。

动图与表情符号

利用表情符号阐明文字信息或使用动图作为回复，这种交流方式的推行看似有趣且无害，但也会影响我们构思恰当书面回复的能力，结果人们会忍不住使用表情图或搞笑动图回复，而不是开动脑筋，从头构思一段书面回答。

病毒式传播

众多社交媒体平台设有快速简单的“分享”按键，因此催生出了“病毒式传播”现象。信息、视频及其他内容可以在几天内轻松横跨不同平台，分享给数以百万计的人。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）