Allen and his colleagues conducted a study to determine the degree to which friends on Facebook share supportive compliments or words of encouragement such as 'I am so sorry for your loss', 'you are my greatest inspiration', and so on. The results showed that the more the number of friends one had, the lower the frequency with which they posted supportive compliments (Allen et al
" In our case, this could be translated to mean that on the internet, one is able to behave like the dog they are, and this gives less socially adept persons the right to feel more comfortable building social networks. The second argument is based on the 'rich get richer' hypothesis, which suggests that people only use online social media to reinforce relationships that they had already formed and keep in touch with long-distance associates; as such, social media networks do not reduce the time spent on physical relationships, and neither does it ruin individuals' social skills (Honeycutt and Brian 304)
Another argument that has been put forth by those in support of the negative correlation between social media engagement and social skills is that such engagement impedes on our ability to identify with and accept the views of others, and this affects our ability to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. On social media, people tend to follow and identify with people who share the same interests (Keller 10)
Arguments against Three crucial arguments have been raised against the hypothesis in question. Some researchers have argued that contrary to popular beliefs more use of social media builds social skills because people who are less socially adept such as those with self-esteem issues can effectively use the same as a form of social compensation (Subrahmanyam and Smahel 90; Ahn 1490)
Hypothesis: more use of online social media and less interpersonal communication results in a lack of social skills Arguments for One of the core arguments that have been put forth in support of the hypothesis stated in the preceding section is that increased online communication at the expense of face-to-face interactions causes people to have a decreased sensitivity to emotional cues (Wolpert). Studies have shown that being sensitive to other people's emotional cues is a key social skill in the formation and maintenance of physical relationships, and it is built and developed through physical interactions (Uhls et al
This text interacts with the arguments presented by both sides of the divide with the aim of testing the hypothesis that more use of online social networks has an adverse effect on individuals' social skills. Hypothesis: more use of online social media and less interpersonal communication results in a lack of social skills Arguments for One of the core arguments that have been put forth in support of the hypothesis stated in the preceding section is that increased online communication at the expense of face-to-face interactions causes people to have a decreased sensitivity to emotional cues (Wolpert)