The world we live in nowadays is one constantly surrounded by mediated communication, meaning the communication that is carried out by the use of technology. From sharing pictures on Facebook, to posting our opinions on Twitter, even to finding ourselves texting all the time. The fact is that we heavily depend on these ways of communication, and without them most people would find themselves lost.

It is no secret that digitally mediated communication has grown largely over the years. The question is whether this growth is positive or negative for interpersonal relationships. There are two valid sides to each argument that can be looked at. On the one side, the growth of technology and social media has allowed people to communicate in more ways than one but, on the other hand, others believe that this is actually making the relationships weaker since they claim that people become more lonely — they are obsessed with these machines instead of their actual relationships.

Sherry Turkle, author of the book Alone Together, discusses a world where people rather have an interpersonal relationship with their phones than with an actual person.

“People are lonely. The network is seductive. But if we are always on, we may deny ourselves the rewards of solitude,” Turkle says. This means that we seek comfort in our devices when feeling lonely, but don’t realize that as people grow attached to these devices they start to lose the authenticity of real relationships not only with others but with themselves as well.

Now I am not going to lie, I am completely guilty of being attached to my cellphone 24/7. It really isn’t something I am entirely proud of. But being so far away from family and friends, I do have to say that social media and cellphones are a lifesaver.

This new digital media era of communication brings on a whole new set of possibilities, like being able to communicate with these friends and family that may not live close or being able to reach out to old friends. Because truth is the amount of time I spend on my phone I spend talking to people who I share a relationship with.

But I can’t deny that this kind of communication cannot be compared to the intimate communication that face-to-face offers. There are factors that communicating in person with someone include that, lets say texting, lacks. Being face-to-face means that both individuals will be under the same influences of distractions; face-to-face allows you to see the other person's body movements and facial expressions. All of this is important when communicating, and all of these factors are not present when texting someone, therefore you lose these important aspects of intimacy.

We spend our time invested in social media, text messaging, and online gaming, so much that it has turned into something we don't know how to live without. It makes us question if people really turn to this when feeling lonely or if they just use it because it's easy and doesn't bring the effort of keeping an actual authentic relationship. The true question is whether this mediated communication in fact makes us feel more connected or if in reality it just makes us even lonelier?

With social media or even online gaming, people have the liberty of creating themselves; they can choose what to show and what not to show. This is why people would rather communicate with their phones or computers, because they have the time to thoroughly think of what they want to say. There isn’t a great amount of fear of saying something stupid that there is when talking face-to-face, and so it gives people more confidence to talk using these devices.

Taking this argument into consideration we can see how relationships on social networks a lot of times can be something more superficial than authentic. Someone on Facebook is trying to keep up their image, they are trying to show themselves off, therefore there are lot of users who will add people they don’t necessarily talk to much just to increase their number of friends. This sense of a "Facebook friend" is that person you’re friends with on social media but don't really have any other type of relationship with, whatsoever.

Though I do agree that social media has helped a lot with keeping long distance relationships or for connecting with new people, I still believe that individuals are becoming lonelier the more they obsess with their phones. Namely because, let's say for example, you go out for lunch with your friends: in a matter of seconds I can guarantee you that everyone around the table will be on their smartphone, checking Facebook, Twitter, emails, anything.

I am guilty of this, and I see it happen everyday, it just further proves that people are actually losing the authenticity of true relationships because they find themselves so glued to their phones. Users have become so invested with these devices that they have forgotten how to actually socialize face-to-face or how to keep an actual conversation going without constantly being distracted by the online world.

However I don’t completely agree that mediated communication has entirely weakened our interpersonal relationships, because it does in fact strengthen and help maintain long distance and old relationships. It is a good way to have family and friends keep up with what you’re doing in your life.

Mediated communication has also opened the door to gaining information so much quicker than in the past, where now we can know what’s going on the other side of the world in just a matter of seconds thanks to social media. But the question is does it make us lazy? Does it take away from that effort we must put in to keep a close relationship with someone?

There is never a moment where we take a step back and look up from our phones to realize that we have all lost our capacity to keep a real, authentic conversation going. Maybe we should try that?