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  • Published: 09 August 2021

Has the pandemic changed the way we communicate?

  • David Westgarth 1  

BDJ In Practice volume  34 ,  pages 14–18 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Has COVID-19 changed the what and the how of communication?

What are the implications?

Could the changes be a good thing?

Introduction

There's a very funny picture doing the rounds on social media that says you can drive for four hours in America and you're on the same road in the same State, but in the same distance in UK the accent and name for a bread roll has changed 18 times. Besides the geographical challenges and differences posed by the countries, it is fascinating how language, accent and dialect change so much. Despite spending precisely zero minutes growing up in the North East, it's still the accent people tell me I have. And yet, after a weekend at home in Cumbria, upon my return to the city my Cumbrian accent is stronger than ever. Few people will forget how hilarious former England football manager Steve McLaren adopted a Dutch accent during his time coaching one of the country's clubs, only for it to disappear on his return to England.

The environment around us has a significant impact on what we say and how we say it. Throughout the pandemic, many of the normal social conventions have been put on hold, altered and changed. Dentistry felt those alterations and changes hard, but just how has communication within the profession been impacted?

figure 1

The what and the how

There has been plenty said about the 'how' changes, most notably the increased use of teledentistry for patient-facing processes. Less has been said about the vast quantity of digital learning that has taken place, for dental students and those fully qualified. The disruption, as with most things since March 2020, provided challenges and opportunities. Research has previously highlighted four key areas that have been adversely impacted: 1

Online communication skills teaching

While not necessarily the optimum way to strengthen communication skills, many teachers are learning and seeking to identify best practices for virtual communication skills teaching during the pandemic. Teachers need information on how best to employ videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom and WebX for experiential communication skills learning, which includes peer role play and practice with simulated patients.

Clinical learners not seeing patients

In many health professional schools around the world, many clinical rotations have been suspended. Sharing resources for continuing case-based and other forms of learning in the absence of direct patient encounters is another pressing need and opportunity.

' The environment around us has a significant impact on what we say and how we say it. Throughout the pandemic, many of the normal social conventions have been put on hold, altered and changed.'

Workplace-based learning

Not all learners have been removed from clinical settings during the pandemic and many, such as residents, are experiencing increased clinical obligations. It will be helpful to identify opportunities for continued emphasis on communication skills learning and development in the clinical setting. Innovations that adhere to the need for physical distancing and still emphasise communication content could include virtual rounding, video recording with asynchronous feedback of learner-patient encounters, and communication-focused debriefing of patient/family encounters.

Virtual communication assessments

In addition to in-person teaching, the pandemic has made in- person assessments such as OSCEs untenable. Many schools are developing successful and innovative ways to continue to conduct communication-focused performance-based assessments, including involvement of simulated patients using videoconferencing platforms.

While I found it interesting that the authors highlighted that there are some successes and innovations to aid students, trainers and qualified alike, the impact caused by a lack of face-to-face training was not discussed. Dentistry by its very nature is hands-on, so who knows what impact that has had on dental student and course attendees? Only time will tell.

In addition to the setting, the qualifications and the virtual nature of conversations, what we say has also changed over the pandemic. Almost every conversation I've had with friends and loved ones has included a discussion on positivity rates, or R value, the vaccine or the desire for things to go back to the way they were. There are few situations where every person on the planet can sympathise and empathise with what you're going through; this is one of those. Pre-pandemic, what did a mask mean? Did it mean ski mask and thoughts of a happier nature? Did it mean a masquerade ball and again, happy, party vibes? In dentistry it was a staple of treating a patient. Its role hasn't changed. The difference was to talk to a patient, you could pop it off as soon as you were done treating them. To this end, it's another example of how practitioners talk to patients has changed. Practitioners need to enhance non-verbal communication to compensate for the loss of visible facial expression, as Jane Merivale has previously written:

'Facial expressions signal our thoughts and emotions and most of us become fairly adept at reading the faces of others to understand what they are thinking and feeling. We have evolved 42 muscles of facial expression for this purpose!

' Many schools are developing successful and innovative ways to continue to conduct communication-focused performance-based assessments, including involvement of simulated patients using videoconferencing platforms.'

'Being able to observe the mouth can impact on the patient's perception of a dentist's emotional intelligence, and their likeability, which directly affects patient satisfaction, regardless of the actual treatment outcome.' 2

Masks, necessary as they are, can create problems. Research shows high-frequency sounds are reduced by 3-4 decibels (dB) when wearing a surgical mask, and by 12 dB when wearing an N95 mask.3 A 10-decibel reduction will be twice as quiet as the original decibel reading. As people age, their hearing loss generally affects these higher frequencies, resulting in greater difficulty hearing. 4 Add some background noise (such as air purifiers for the room), and this decrease in decibels is enough of a reduction to affect the quality of speech for people with some level of hearing loss. 3

Masks also make it impossible to read lips. They muffle sounds, and with more than half of the face covered, it is more difficult to decipher facial expressions. Wearing two masks and a face shield likely affects the quality of speech even more. For patients to be able to make a decision on their treatment based on informed consent and understand all of their treatment options, the ability to hear and understand what we are attempting to communicate is of utmost importance.

Muffled sound through 15 months (and counting) of masked communication may also impact on how we pronounce our words. At Michigan State University Sociolinguistics Lab, a team of researchers have been collecting recorded speech from Michigan residents since the beginning of April 2020 to track changes to language during the pandemic. According to them, the most recent time a major event had such an impact on language was the Second World War, because it brought people together who ordinarily wouldn't have had contact with one another. They would have had to speak louder and clearer during bombing campaigns, for example.

With the pandemic, it's just the opposite. We've been pried apart, and 'you're on mute', 'you broke up a bit there' and 'I can't quite hear you' have become norms for meetings. Research isn't available to date, but anecdotally I would think I've probably changed how I speak - I'm louder, slower and clearer, for masks and for virtual discussions. For someone softly and quietly spoken, they would perhaps have had to adapt more than a public speaker, for example. And yet, as one of the points in Box 1 shows, it can be difficult to speak louder for clarity and retain patient confidentiality. This may well have been improved upon since the beginning of the pandemic, but as restrictions persist and foundation dentists take up posts from next month, it is something many will be encountering for the first time.

The implications

In the last ten years, the biggest change we have seen to communication is that it has become a lot more immediate. Instead of sending emails back and forth from the computer, and waiting for the recipient to be at their desk before they can send a reply, most people now have got access to instant messaging software, which is now becoming integrated into working offices too. When the very first iPhone came out back in 2007, no-one could foresee how smartphones would come to dominate our lives. Our phones are an essential lifeline - they're on the same checklist as keys, wallet and masks when you leave the house. Chances are you're probably reading this on your phone, too, as the number of mobile web users has now outstripped their desktop counterparts. Email does still have its place, but instant messaging apps will soon make them obsolete and a thing of the past at current rates of progress.

' Masks also make it impossible to read lips. They muffle sounds, and with more than half of the face covered, it is more difficult to decipher facial expressions.'

This immediacy means patients have come to expect it too, which is why you wonder if - for a large segment of patients - it should stay. It's one less barrier to getting patients into the practice. Toothbrushes use smart technology to send data back to a patient's dentist. It would perhaps be more cost-effective and enable dental practitioners with targets to achieve them easier. Would it even be a cost-effective bridge for patients to access private dentistry more often and take the pressure off the health service, clearly under pressure? These parameters would apply to a small section of the population, but the implications for a return to 'how things used to be' simply places pressure on a system still essentially operating with peak-pandemic restrictions; it shouldn't happen.

This has also led to another change in precisely how we communicate, namely the length of how we communicate. It wasn't all that long ago that you could expect lengthy emails about even the simplest of topics, Now, though, there's no need to do that when you're communicating with someone in 'real-time'. Conciseness is the order of the day, particularly because that ease of communication means that we often have a lot to keep on top of at once.

And that rings true of most scenarios, except for consent.

Conciseness is not the order of the day. As with consent, and the changes adopted as a result of the Montgomery case, records and consent need to be tailored to the individual patient and therefore being concise will never work in your favour. There is no substitute for good communication, and it is important that what is written in the records actually took place; the patient may argue that there was no such dialogue and no such agreement to proceed on those terms. BDA Indemnity has previously reaffirmed:

'In order to be valid, the consent process needs to be tailored to each patient and their particular circumstances, taking into account what matters most to them. Essentially, this summarises the legal precedent created by the Montgomery case in 2015. Hence your records are the only sure method of demonstrating the consent process which will inevitably evolve over the period you are treating the patient; remembering also that the patient can withdraw their consent at any point.' 5

When providing dental treatment, it is important that every patient fully understands any dental treatment that is proposed in order to make an informed decision about how they would like to proceed. Fully and concise in this scenario do not mix, and it is important to consider the implications of discussing treatment plans with a patient via traditional means and the problems associated with masks, and digital means, particularly if the patient seems like they'd rather be elsewhere.

Conversely, some of the problems that may arise from muffled communication - those with hearing difficulties, those who do not have English as their first language, those living with a disability or other impairment - may reverse the 'instant' nature of communication. Could practitioners be extra cautious about giving patients too much information if there are concerns about misinterpretations or misunderstandings? It's not beyond the realms of possibility, and yet there is still a balance to ensure the patient gets information they can understand and will digest.

True progress, or progress for the sake of it

Sometimes it can feel like technology is being used for the sake of it, and as a result there's no communication, other than with a responsive piece of software. Dentistry must not find itself implementing changes purely for the sake of it - any of the pandemic learnings integrated into everyday practising should be done so for the benefit of the patient and practitioner.

Take receptionists, for example. An integral part of the dental team, yet for some there will be a temptation to make the check-in process digital through touchpads and/or voice-activated programs. Their numbers could potentially dwindle. Besides the fact they're one skillset most at risk from COVID-19 given how many different people they see in a static environment, they're an invaluable asset in any practice. Could a touchpad resolve a query? Yes, most likely. Could a receptionist be able to iron out the beginnings of a complaint? Yes, absolutely. It's those intangible aspects that savings - which many practice owners will naturally seek to find post-pandemic - cannot replace.

' When providing dental treatment, it is important that every patient fully understands any dental treatment that is proposed in order to make an informed decision about how they would like to proceed.'

For dental students, would a hybrid model of learning be something they wish to incorporate? Do they need to be present in lectures as well as clinics? There's an argument for one, but a weaker one for the other.

Do practice meetings need to be in-person when everyone has adopted and integrated technology replacements so ably?

It's easy to say technology - in these scenarios - replaces the need for in-person communication. Truth is they do. The question is should they replace them, to which the answer is anything but straight forward. The 'soft skill' is something many are concerned is lacking in many students and young dentists, given their focus on clinical skills. Researchers have previously concluded that: ' An increase in service industry and competitive private practices emphasises the need for soft skills. Soft skills are used in personal and professional life.

'These soft skills help to organise, plan and manage, and track changes during the course of the growing dental practices. However, understanding of the soft skills in practice management, its simplicity and complex contexts of practice is essential. It is really helpful to all practitioners to grow their practices using soft skills.' 6

Given the shift to instant communication, and in a post-pandemic world where we're actively discouraged from being face-to-face with someone, being able to read the conversation, the flow and the body language, it will be fascinating to see the long-term impact this has on the profession - and wider society - moving forward.

COVID-19 has changed clinical communication practices, of that there is no doubt. The transition from and the balance of face-to-face communication with remote encounters has shifted, even for a profession as reliant upon in-person as dentistry. Which of those changes becomes the norm will only be seen once COVID-19 is in the rear view mirror - for how much longer will masks be mandatory for the entirety of the appointment? For how much longer will practitioners have to speak above air filtration units on top of that? How will this affect those of partial hearing too? How those changes affect the way we communicate will take even longer to gestate - will we all end up speaking slowly and loudly, like Brits abroad do when they want to order something off the menu from behind the counter but have no idea of how to do so in the local language? ◆

Box 1 Tips for masked communication

Dr Jane Merivale, senior dento-legal advisor for BDA Indemnity, has previously suggested the following for communicating wearing a mask2

The environment - Minimise the noise and distractions in the surgery; patients need to understand what is being said and if not hearing fully, especially in the absence of lip-reading cues, they will 'make a guess' at what's been said, particularly patients with a cognitive or hearing impediment

Make eye contact - This conveys 'I see you' activating empathy and connection. Too much and the patient feels uncomfortable, but enough strengthens the greeting and promotes trust

Introductions are key - Wear a name badge so everyone knows 'who's who' and their job title

Explain why you are wearing a mask - This can enhance trust in the dental setting signalling adherence to cross infection control measures given dentistry is carried out at such close quarters

Listen well - Let patients tell their story, uninterrupted

Give reassurance that the patient is safe and acknowledge the extra difficulties imposed by wearing a mask

Check your tone of voice - The tone conveys over 38% of the non-verbal emotional content of what we say. The pace, rhythm and pitch of spoken language is called prosody. Prosody infuses a layer of emotion that goes above and beyond the singular meaning of each word and we are all highly sensitive to variations in tone of voice. In a famous study by Nalini Ambady, audiotapes of surgeons talking with patients were filtered so only the volume, pace and rhythm of their communications were audible. When the tapes were played to a group of volunteers, listeners could determine the surgeons who had a history of complaints and claims

Name your emotion - If the PPE makes it difficult to express it: for example, 'You make me smile' or 'I empathise with you'

Convey openness, warmth and respect with body language - Sit down with patients, turn towards them, and sit at eye level whilst maintaining social distance.

Encourage questions to gauge understanding - In the face of any lack of comprehension that is critical to obtaining valid consent. Information gathered by the dentist may otherwise be incomplete leading to clinical and consent inaccuracies.

Use gestures - Thumbs up or down to clarify what has or hasn't been understood

Give more supplementary written information than usual

Safeguard confidentiality - It can be difficult to speak louder for clarity. You may have to move somewhere more confidential if the situation demands it

Use technology creatively to supplement information given - some dentists are experimenting with live transcript applications compatible with mobile phone technology as a means of communication solving, so the patient can listen again when they've left the surgery.

Rubinelli S, Myers K, Rosenbaum M and Davis D. Implications of the current COVID-19 pandemic for communication in healthcare. Patient Educ Couns 2020; 103: 1067-1069.

Merivale J. 'Masked' communication. BDJ In Pract 2021; 34: 28.

Goldin A, Weinstein B, Shiman N. How do medical masks degrade speech reception? Hearing Review 2020; 27: 8-9.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What noises cause hearing loss? National Center for Environmental Health. Updated October 7, 2019. Available online at: www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html (Accessed August 2021).

Merivale J. Adapting patient consent in response to COVID-19. BDJ In Pract 2021; 33: 26-27.

Dalaya M, Ishaquddin S, Ghadage M, Hatte G. An interesting review on soft skills and dental practice. J Clin Diagn Res 2015; 9: ZE19-ZE21.

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Westgarth, D. Has the pandemic changed the way we communicate?. BDJ In Pract 34 , 14–18 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-021-0845-x

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Published : 09 August 2021

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-021-0845-x

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modern communication problems essay

The 14 Most Common Communication Challenges Within Modern Companies and Tips on How to Overcome Them

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It will come as no surprise that today’s work environment is predominantly remote and digital. Meaning that organizations should put – now more than ever – a greater emphasis on effective workplace communication procedures.

Effective workplace communication is a key component that can make or break a business – regardless of its size.

As the latest workplace communication statistics have indicated, effective communication processes are paramount for employee productivity and retention.

For example, did you know that 97% of workers say that communication impacts their task efficiency on a daily basis? Or that more informed employees have 77% higher work productivity than less informed workers?

However, establishing optimized communication procedures – tailored to each business’ needs – is not as easy as it may sound. It requires a lot of effort and implies overcoming numerous workplace communication challenges.

Communication challenges at work are more varied and nuanced than you might first imagine. Depending on the medium used, there are different types and distinct levels of involvement needed to solve them.

To help you improve your company’s communication, we’ve compiled a list of the most common communication challenges in the workplace and some tips on how to overcome them.

What are the greatest challenges to effective communication?

1. time zones.

With the rapid uptake of remote work , modern companies have seized the opportunity to bring the best professionals into their teams, hiring talent from all around the globe.

Truthfully, there are numerous benefits to having employees working in different time zones. Just to name a few – increased response and client satisfaction , and ultimately the company’s profit, are some good examples.

Nonetheless, as profitable as this can be for a business, it can also lead to one of the most prominent communication challenges.

As a result of not being able to communicate in real-time, co-workers from different time zones may find themselves stuck on different projects or tasks. This may lead to serious delays or missed deadlines, which have a negative impact on a business.

Usually, spread-around-the-world employees have regular calls to catch up on the latest work news.

However, some projects require more frequent updates than others, which may be difficult to coordinate due to differing time zones.

Besides regular check-in calls, it’s also recommended to have a weekly or daily online team calendar in which employees update their task status at the end of the day. This way, it’s easier for beyond-the-border colleagues to know the exact status of projects and where they should pick up from.

2. Language barriers and cultural differences

Adding on to the first communication challenge presented, language barriers and cultural differences can also lead to serious miscommunication .

Misinterpretations of words and gestures can create animosity and conflicts that negatively impact team cohesion.

Reluctancy to collaborate due to poor interpersonal relationships among co-workers because of cultural differences can cost businesses greatly. Which is why fostering cross-cultural communication through intercultural training is absolutely necessary within a multicultural company.

3. Finding the right communication tools and technologies

From communication tools to design tools, and everything in between, the internet is full of tools and apps these days. Luckily, you are probably just a google search away from solving most of your company’s needs.

Nonetheless, when talking about organizational communication – finding the right tools and communication channels is often one of the most acute communication challenges.

E-mails, for example, continue to be a primary channel used for business communication. Thanks to their professional tone, they make a great external communication channel. On the other hand, because of that same formality, they may not be as effective in the case of internal communication .

We all know how hard it is to find the relevant information needed lost in a sea of emails, probably many unimportant, and how much time this wastes.

For day-to-day communication between employees, it may prove more efficient to implement a team chat with some audio and video features.

The major advantage of such a tool is that it could make your workforce more time-effective. Moreover, it can help build stronger interpersonal relationships.

Often used also for sharing memes, GIFs, and so on, this kind of communication channel can help employees loosen up and have more relaxed conversations.

Finding the right communication technology represents a pressing communication challenge. Using the wrong one can lead to delayed response times and the loss of precious information.

This is a vital element that can influence a business’s success.

Pro tip: when researching the right communication tools for your business, consider those that offer the most solutions to all of your needs!

Brosix , for example, is an all-in-one team communication tool that can help you be time-effective, not having to switch between tools for various tasks.

It has a wealth of features, like file transfers , screen sharing , voice and video chat , and more, to help you meet your company’s needs. Improve your team communication today. Sign up for a Brosix Team Network 4. Lack of a standardized communication structure

lack of a standardized communication structure

Implementing an effective communication process within an organization involves testing and adjusting a couple of variables. Especially when considering larger companies.

On one hand, it demands finding the right tools and mix for different tasks and projects.

On the other hand, it requires a more strategic approach. Equally implying setting a clear and effective communication plan between upper management and employees across all levels.

If your company is lacking a communication plan, and you’re thinking about creating one – remember it should offer you answers to the following questions:

  • How will the flow of communication be handled between same-level employees, and also between them and the department director? Will there be daily meetings or reports covering project updates or employees’ needs?
  • How will the most important company updates be delivered to employees – through an internal call or an official email?

5. Lack of effective communication processes overall

Every business is different, thus every internal communication plan will reflect that.

An important takeaway is that there should be included actions for every communication level – lateral, downward, and upward communication.

When it comes to having a bulletproof downward communication plan, special attention should be given to potential crisis situations. During the COVID19 pandemic, for example, most employees said that they would have loved to receive more regular company updates.

Managers should remember that transparency in these types of situations is vital for any company’s survival. In the volatile, modern work environment, regular check-ins with employees are crucial for employee retention.

In the case of upward communication , the information that needs to be discussed comes from employees. As a result, there cannot be a pre-established schedule and formula for solving every problem.

Nonetheless, managers that want to give their employees a voice could host regular short reviews/talks regarding latest projects and ask for feedback from employees.

Lastly, to foster lateral communication within a company, department directors should provide and implement communication opportunities wherever possible. Regular meetings or so-called “daily’s”, including covering the manager’s own attendance and report are a great way of doing that. Through managers sharing their own activity updates the group becomes more unified and feels valued.

As there are three distinct types of workplace communication (downward, upward and lateral) there should be specifically targeted plans of action to foster each one of them.

Effective communication in the workplace is most likely to flourish when an internal communication plan is implemented, with actionable steps for all three fundamental communication scenarios.

Inconsistent communication channels

Remember when we talked about how imperative it is for an organization to set a clear internal communication plan? That’s because different messages are better delivered through specific communication channels.

The first thing to do is decide on the most helpful communication tools for your business. After that, it’s recommended to have consistency in your way of delivering company news.

Having inconsistent communication channels, which means random switches between tools, is a communication challenge many of today’s employees frequently deal with.

Instead of investing valuable time in their tasks, employees are more likely to waste time when searching for the information needed across all the communication channels available.

Therefore, businesses can face a severe workforce productivity drop by not keeping consistency in how internal communication is organized.

Lack of employee engagement

Lack of employee engagement

Adding to our list of communication challenges, is a lack of or low employee engagement.

Honestly, employee engagement is a key factor in improving workplace communication.

As long as, on their part, there is no interest in listening, your efforts to facilitate effective communication in the workplace will be in vain.

Finding the right messages to motivate your employees is essential. It is, indeed, one of the hardest communication challenges to overcome, but is likely to totally transform your business for the better.

The more driven and receptive a company’s employees are, the more they will bring to a business. This usually translates into time efficiency, as there’s no need for extra back-and-forth explanations. Consequently, it can result in shorter deadlines needed and, ultimately, in an increased capacity for taking on new projects.

Hence, once you have your workers’ commitment, you’ll soon see the results in their performance and your company overall.

Lack of feedback

Offering feedback is considered a communication challenge by many, especially when related to negative feedback.

Although it’s never pleasant to give someone bad news, feedback is required for personal and professional evolution. After all, without knowing that something needs improvement, how can anyone refine their skills?

Nevertheless, feedback is a two-way street.

For a company to improve its internal communication and grow, feedback from both lower-level employees and upper management is valuable and necessary.

As much as none of us particularly enjoy criticism, in the end, sincere, constructive, and development-oriented feedback is in the best interests of both the business and employees.

Information overload

Keeping your employees up to date regarding important business decisions is a fantastic way to encourage employee engagement.

Meanwhile, overwhelming them with irrelevant information, flooding their inboxes and interrupting their workflow and focus is not ideal.

Unnecessary meetings or e-mails cause distractions , which affects productivity, and should be avoided at all costs. Before calling a meeting or sending an email, carefully consider if all the topics covered are relevant to the extended team.

Ultimately, oversharing information can waste company resources and causes employees to lose precious time.

Company information and department news should be disseminated according to a well-thought out internal communication plan, as mentioned earlier.

Lack of collaboration

The latest workplace collaboration statistics show that 75% of employees rate teamwork and collaboration as very important . Moreover, collaboration is among the top four most important skills for employees’ future success.

As data emphasizes, collaboration across teams and departments within an organization is crucial for professional growth and a thriving company.

So, how does lack of collaboration become a communication challenge for businesses?

Most probably each of us can think of a situation when we were forced to work with our least favorite colleagues. In these circumstances, adaptability is essential.

Regardless of potential animosity and past or current conflicts, projects are quickly derailed if the people involved do not put their personal feelings aside. Since this clearly presents potential risks for a company, preventive measures should be taken.

Some businesses try to foster collaboration and cultivate a fruitful communication flow between co-workers through various problem-solving activities . Team buildings are, for example, one of the most enjoyable and effective ways of inspiring collaboration .

Poor onboarding communication

To become a valuable asset to a company, every new employee must undergo a well-planned and rigorous onboarding process.

Facilitating the new employee’s integration requires the preparation of clearly understandable onboarding guidelines and training sessions .

Especially in the case of remote working, onboarding has evolved into a heavier process, becoming a challenge that can cause ineffective workplace communication.

The downside of working remotely is that it reduces the shared experiences among team members. Hence, forging strong interpersonal relationships becomes harder, especially for newly integrated people.

Effective workplace communication in the context of remote work can easily be disturbed by technical glitches.

For a new hire, it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed at the beginning with the amount of information received. We’ve all been there and know what it’s like, right?

Being a newbie and not knowing where to turn for help can be daunting and frustrating.

Adapting to a new workplace entails a trial and error process that managers have to be understanding and empathetic towards.

To ease the new hire’s onboarding process, managers can choose to temporarily use a single communication tool where they provide all the needed onboarding information.

Additionally, introducing new pieces of information during the onboarding process can prove to be a more efficient tactic than swamping a new team member with all the information at once. That’s because this way, employees can assimilate faster.

Furthermore, the onboarding communication and overall process will likely run smoother if managers encourage new employees to ask questions – whenever necessary.

An open-door policy is recommended for creating trust and inspiring employee engagement.

Poor cross-team coordination

Poor cross team coordination

While there are several departments within a company, each with its own clearly defined role, when you’re evaluating your business’s performance, you look at it as a whole.

This means that regardless of their independence, an organization’s departments should always stay connected.

Poor cross-team coordination happens when one or more parties fail to convey all key components of their shared tasks completely.

Poor interdepartmental coordination is a communication challenge that businesses should manage carefully as it could prevent a business from fulfilling its goals.

Additionally, when departments fail to communicate effectively, the business may face a series of repercussions – from client complaints to monetary loss.

Poor communication skills

There is no shame in admitting that some people are better at communicating than others.

For extroverts, for example, communication comes as naturally as breathing. On the other hand, for introverts, it may raise challenges sometimes.

Truth be told, the secret to communicating effectively is trying.

Even if some of us are not natural communicators, the good news is that if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Luckily, there are plenty of courses and training sessions on the internet these days that can help you develop better communication skills.

Realizing the importance of effective communication within the workplace, more and more companies have started implementing communication programs for their employees.

They may be focused on foreign language courses – to strengthen the multinational workforce. Or on interpersonal communication, and so on. The growing interest in effective internal communication is obvious.

Additionally, when conducting a recruitment process, HR agents and managers pay special attention to a candidate’s communication skills. Often, these very skills are investigated and greatly influence the hiring decision.

Having employees with poor communication skills is a communication challenge as it hinders the overall communication and may hold the company back.

Hiring people with excellent communication skills is imperative for businesses, as employees are a direct reflection of an organization.

Information silos

The last point on our list of communication challenge examples is information silos.

Be it an email, presentation, notes etc, it refers to situations when information is concealed or simply lost. Information silos clearly present communication challenges as they can lead

to delays, duplicate work, and so on.

Communication challenges via different communication platforms

Communication challenges within organizations can appear at many points along the communication flow.

Sometimes roadblocks appear because of the communication channels used, how the information is presented, or how feedback is given.

Given the current popularity of remote and hybrid working, most internal communication has become technology-mediated.

Consequently, it’s only logical that these primary communication challenges would occur via digital communication channels.

To give a clearer picture, we’ll briefly outline the most common communication challenges across different channels.

1. Messages and video calls

Messages are possibly the most popular means of communication nowadays. That’s because they deliver information quickly and do not need an immediate reply.

However, messaging raises a communication challenge, as the lack of paraverbal elements like tone of voice can lead to misinterpretation.

Moreover, nowadays, people often limit their communication to emojis .

Even though they are indeed helpful for sending information quicker, emojis, unfortunately, lack the emotional implication of a written message or verbal communication.

This, in the end, leads to more superficial interpersonal relationships and less investment in improving overall communication.

Video calls, on the other hand, strengthen the closeness between people. Even though, people seem somehow reluctant to them.

Since video calls demand real-time communication, it is not recommended for every situation.

One of the major risks of using this type of communication is the technical errors that may arise. A poor connection, display errors or interruptions, to name a few, can put a real damper on a video call’s efficacy.

2. Face-to-face communication

Face-to-face communication can often be one of the most effective ways of communication, however this is not always the case.

As it relies heavily on people’s state of mind at a specific time, face-to-face communication can sometimes prove quite ineffective.

Influencing factors for successful face-to-face communication’s success are usually attitude, listening skills, and emotional barriers .

As long as people are unwilling to pay attention to a certain topic or have a negative attitude towards it, organizational communication is very unlikely to improve.

That is why occasional team buildings are recommended – to allow employees to loosen up around their co-workers, strengthen trust, and communicate more easily overall.

The communication challenge examples presented above are the most common and, at the same time, the most impactful for businesses nowadays.

Hopefully, the in-depth analysis of each of them helped you better understand how they affect a company, and what solutions exist to remedy them.

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Nikola Baldikov is a Head of Marketing at Brosix, specializing in SaaS marketing, SEO, and outreach strategies. Besides his passion for digital marketing, he is an avid football fan and loves to dance. Connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter at @baldikovn.

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Problems of Modern Techniques of Communication

Introduction

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Modern Business Communication Techniques

Video conferencing, text messaging, social media, lower efficiency, morale by employees, diminished innovation, effects on interpersonal communications, effects associated with non-verbal communications, networking sites, social interaction reduction, cruel motives, positive effects of technology, the quality of communication, lowering the level of face-to-face interaction, social isolation, global business, morale of the employees, mortar and brick, related communication and media essays.

Communication is a vital tool within a business organization. The business needs  communicating important information to various stakeholders such as clients, employees, suppliers and company shareholders. In  business, communication is a two-way process, i.e. the feed forward and feedback. There are various communication channels that  business uses for communication. Communication can be oral or written. The communication channels include mails, video conferences, phone calls, letters and memos. Communication is crucial because it facilitates smooth running of the organization (Bisen & Priya, 2009). The purpose of communication in an organization is as follows:  passing instructions, image building and giving direction, evaluating activities, for training, achieving integration of roles and  informing. Existence of advanced technology has provided business with numerous improved communication techniques. The modern communication techniques are fast, reliable, cost effective and secure. Many businesses have evolved from paper work to paperless offices. Paperless offices have been achieved through embracing technology. Modern communication techniques have improved the way that businesses communicate. This technology has made communication easier and quicker. However, these modern techniques have their own set of problems. To highlight these problems, first it is essential to identify modern communication techniques used in business today. This essay will analyze in details the problems that are resultant of modern communication techniques.

There are a number of business communication options that are available for business purposes. In cases where face-to-face communication cannot be achieved, modern techniques come in handy. The communication techniques include:

The electronic mail is one of the most popular and preferred methods of receiving and sending data. The wide preference of the use of e-mail is attributed to the fact that information is received quickly, secure, and it is cost effective. E-mails make it possible to share information over a geographically dispersed area with ease.

Video conferencing is probably the greatest revolution that business communication has experienced. Two parties that are in different locations can communicate with each other via a computer (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). This is enhanced by web-cams and microphones. The two parties can see each other as they share information. This technique is widely used where the parties that need to communicate are far away from each other.

In organizations, telephone communication is the most widely used communication channel. Businesses use telephones for both internal and external communication. It is a personalized form of communication between two parties. The inception of mobile phones transformed telephone communication. Mobile phones offer a cheap way to communicate. Many people have access to the gadget making it possible to communicate with others.

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The fact that a large percent of people have access to mobile phones makes text messages an important communication tool. Though not heavily relied on businesses, it offers an easy, quick and cost effective method of communication.

A lot of businesses have realized the importance of communicating to clients via social media. Today millions of people are subscribed to one or other social media site. The most popular sites are Twitter, Facebook, Skype, LinkedIn and My Space among others. Businesses subscribe to these sites and interact with their clients by offering customer service. Social media communication is effective because  business can reach out to millions of clients without incurring huge costs.

These are Internet sites that  business employs to communicate its activities to clients and other stakeholders. Although this form of communication is one way, it ensures that clients are updated on ventures taken by business. Websites contain a description of the company, its goals, management, products and services offered history of the company and the company contacts.

Though the use of letters has drastically reduced, they are used in a number of firms. Advancement in technology is the reason for decreased use of numbers.

The Problems Encountered by Modern Techniques of Business Communication

It is evident that technologies which are used for communications have dynamically changed in terms of human connections. Technologies in communications like the use of mobile phones, Internet and applications in VoIP in order to make phone calls by the computer, have ushered all in the revolution of telecommunication (Schwartz, Bennett & Stein, 1996). Even if the human communication modes have stretched out, there has also been a negative effect on such technologies as far as their nature in communication itself being concerned, according to the Redoubt Reporter , an Arkansas newspaper.

In order to set up  more effective relationship in business, it is important to put into place communication practices that are valuable. However, in some working environment lack of effective communication may be experience. For, instance, a subordinate may fail to deliver an essential e-mail to the boss on the time agreed or perhaps a call may be missed causing an order; therefore, it is not successfully transported on time to the relevant authority. Thus, it should be noted that the chances of an organization productivity being pulled down is particularly high, especially when there is a minor or significant failure in the modes of communication. Hence, realizing such mistakes in the way of communication is some initiative in trying to work out the problem.

This is one of the factors that affect communication. When there is lack of adequate communication or communication is poor in writing or just verbally, then it can adversely hamper  organization’s efficiency. E-mail messages that are vague and need to be clarified, written documents that require to be repeated because of errors encountered and speeches as well as presentations that are acquainted, for example, can affect the way work that is flowing in the company to the highest degree. As a result, effective skills in communications are extremely critical in completing any given project either minor or main one. When numerous companies or employees from different departments build up as a team to finish a huge project, then the value of skills will improve exponentially in the departments. Consequently, failure to implement clear communication practices can lead to inefficiency and sluggishness in completion of projects in a company.

In any given working environment, effective communication and collaboration is of great significance because it may create and/or even promote productivity in the employees, inspiration and creativity. In other words, it is good communication skills in business which motivates people employed to work in this organization to work even better. However, if the ways in communications are actually poor, then the employees will simply run out of patience in doing their work caused by lack of interest in performing the assignments given to them. Besides, there will be questions to be reflected on regarding the value of such products. Another issue of concern is that, when the communication skills are poor in business, it will automatically undermine the confidence of the employees for the reason that they will be strained into presentations that are boring and dull in circumstances where they receive projects with instructions being not comprehensive, thus causing monotony and confusion.

modern communication problems essay

This is also another destructive factor in business progress. The company’s capacity and advancement in establishing constructive contributions in the society can be crippled in case if there are poor communication skills and/or the handling of crucial project is inappropriate. Usually, the ability to innovate, capacity to give directions in communications as well as communicating existing ideas being new are grades in the same level. The use of prolonged conversation through face to face and letters which was mostly used in the old good days has been displaced, however, by texting and chatting causing negative effects on technology. They include the following.

As realized in the modern society, interpersonal skills tend to be lacking whereby expressions of ideas and thoughts face to face is not done appropriately. The main reason behind performing such acts is due to high rates in texting frequencies and also chatting through implemented websites.

No verbal communications have also been found to be affected by technology.  Lack of effective interaction through face to face, the power of grasping in non verbal individuals has been reduced seriously.

modern communication problems essay

Spending more time on the social networking sites, particularly by teenagers, has led to a gap between them and their parents. This is because they get to be closer to their online friends than their parents. Apart from that, since the parents are not up to date with technology and at the same time not familiar with communication styles of their children, some gap exists in the parties leading to parents not interacting efficiently by their children.

It is evident that there have been a lot of changes in life as far as socialization among individuals is concerned. For instance, the frequency of people getting together and meeting has significantly reduced nowadays. Most of the time individuals have just bothered about themselves instead of making their social life to appear real.

Addiction of people to cell phones and Internet has become inevitable, consequently leading to psychological problems such as isolation and loneliness. It is because there is  limitation in the face-to-face interaction; more of their concentrations are put on mobile phones and Internet communications, thus interfering with their psychological problem when the practice is extended.

modern communication problems essay

At times, people have had the behavior of abusing social networks, communicating to unsuspecting groups of individuals as they pretend to be someone else. This practice has actually led to creating more harm than good. The positive aspects of technology have also helped to make improvements in the society.

In most cases actually, people have been spotted doing some task as they communicate at the same time; for example, communicating over the phone while typing and also checking for some information on Internet and cooking simultaneously. Unluckily, there is likelihood to come up with errors while multitasking if full attention in performing the tasks is not given to the expected standards.

It is through Internet that people all over the world are able to keep in touch. This could be through Face book, Twitter and use of ‘to go’. Communications through these channels have lowered the face-to-face interactions. Face–to-face interaction enables people communicating to look at each other perform nonverbal acts like frowning and even smiling. However, in technology, these sorts of nonverbal acts are not easily captured.

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People may feel that they are more isolated than connected. This is another side effect of the technology (Brounstein, Bell, Smith, & Isbell, 2010). In the study done in the year 1990s, results showed that the individuals who accessed Internet frequently felt that they were more isolated than even before. In 2002, however, another study related to the above investigation revealed that the use of Internet at first hand made people extroverts but for those who seem to be introverts consistently continued to feel that they were isolated even when time passed.

E-commerce system has facilitated the purchase of available goods nearly from many focal points in the world. Once payment is made through accessing Internet, information and goods are delivered at the appropriate time. On the other hand, technology has also created negative effects on the businesses. Internet technology software such as  Skype has facilitated meeting to be held even if the members are absent leading to decreased personal aspects in business.

Workplace with software installed simply implies that the employees are not trusted by the organization.

This refers to e-mail messages that are not wanted. Spam has negatively affected many businesses. Therefore, people dealing with spam should accurately check the messages diverted inappropriately as spam.

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E-commerce has had negative mortar and brick stores in retail. There has been difficulty of smaller stores effectively to compete with Internet businesses and large retail stores (Schwartz, Bennett & Stein, 1996).

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  • Relationships

Why Communication Matters

We communicate to create, maintain, and change relationships and selves..

Posted July 15, 2021 | Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

  • Why Relationships Matter
  • Find a therapist to strengthen relationships
  • How we communicate helps relationships get off on the right foot, navigate problems, and change over time.
  • In communication, we develop, create, maintain, and alter our relationships.
  • We communicate to work our way through family changes and challenges in verbal and non-verbal ways.

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I remember seeing a poster on my junior high classroom wall: “Communication is the Beginning of Understanding.” This spoke to me at the time. Yet, like so many people, I had never really thought much about communication. I would have described communication as sending and receiving messages.

Communication Is More Than Sending and Receiving Messages

In reality, communication is often about transmitting information. We send and receive messages with people in our lives. Daily, much of our communication consists of coordinating schedules, “What time are you getting home for dinner?” and negotiating whose turn it is to do the dishes, pay the bills, or take dinner to a friend who is ill. We send messages like, “It is your turn to let the dog out” and receive messages like, “Don’t forget to get dog food at the store” (if you have not guessed, a lot of the messages in my house are about the dog).

We might also blame problems on communication, talking about “communication breakdowns” or on a “lack of communication.” If we think about communication in these ways, we have missed so much that is important about communication. We have neglected how and why communication matters.

Communication Matters to Creating and Changing Relationships

We become aware of how Communication Matters when

  • We confront issues with work-life balance.
  • We experience positive events like the birth of a baby or winning an award.
  • We have a friend does who does not do or say what we expect.
  • We have disagreements over religious beliefs or political values.

Both positive and challenging events affect, reflect, and change our identity and the identity of our personal and family relationships. What do I mean by this? How did these relationships come into being? Well, think about the last time you started a new friendship or had a new member join your family. Through what you and the other person said and did, what we’d call verbal and nonverbal communication , these relationships took shape.

Sometimes relationships develop easily and clearly. They are healthy and pleasant. Other times, relationships develop in stress and storm and may be healthy or not. How we communicate helps relationships get off on the right foot, navigate problems, and change over time.

What is important to understand is that relationships are talked into (and out of) being. In communication, we develop, create, maintain, and alter our relationships. As we communicate, we become and change who we are. Think about how you have grown and changed as you communicate at home, at work, with friends, and in your community.

Communication Matters to Relationship and Family Identity

As we communicate, we co-create relationships and our own identity. As you think about your close relationships and your family, you can likely recall important events, both positive and negative, that impacted how you understand your relationship and yourself as a person.

Consider this example: one of my college students described a childhood family ritual of going out on the front lawn on Christmas Eve. The family sang Christmas carols and threw carrots on the roof for Santa’s reindeers. The family still does this annual carrot-throwing ritual in adulthood. You can picture them bringing their sometimes confused new partners and spouses out in the snow to throw carrots onto the roof and sing.

Why does this family still throw carrots and sing? Through this seemingly silly ritual, the family celebrates who they are as a family and the togetherness that is important to them. The family creates space for new people to join the family. Through their words and actions, members of the family teach their new partners how to be family members through carrot throwing and other vital experiences.

I am sure you can point to experiences that have been central to creating your relationships and your identity.

Communication Matters as We Face Change and Challenges

We also communicate to work our way through family changes and challenges. Family members or others may have different expectations of what our family and personal identity or should be. This is especially true when a family does not fit dominant cultural models, such as single-parent families, multi-ethnic families, stepfamilies, LGBTQ families, or adoptive families.

modern communication problems essay

For me, becoming a stepfamily was highly challenging. We became a stepfamily when I was 12 years old. My mother had recently died, and my Dad surprised us, kids, introducing us to the woman he wanted to marry. We no longer matched the other families in the neighborhood where we’d lived most of our lives. We certainly did not feel like a family overnight.

It took my stepfamily several years to create an understanding of what it meant to be a family. As we interacted, and with many mistakes and some successes, we slowly came to understand what we needed and expected from each other to be a family.

For all of us, relationship and family identity is constantly developing and changing. In my case, I remember my stepmom reminding me to wear a jacket when going out in the evening, even into my 40s, and giving me advice about my health. At some point, our roles changed, and now, as she moves toward her 80s, more often than not, I am in the role of asking about her health and helping her with significant decisions. What it means to be a mother or daughter and what we expect of each other and ourselves change as we interact.

Communication Matters . Whether we are negotiating whose turn it is to feed the dog, how to become a parent, how to interact with a difficult co-worker, or how to celebrate with a friend who won a major award, it is in communication that we learn what to do and say. This is what I will write about in this blog as I reflect on what I have learned as a professor and researcher of interpersonal and family communication. I invite you to go on this journey with me. I hope to give you insights into your communication.

Communication Matters. Communication is the Beginning of Understanding . It is an exciting and ever-changing journey.

Baxter, L. A. (2004). Relationships as dialogues. Personal Relationships, 11 , 1-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2004.00068.x

Braithwaite, D. O., Foster, E. A., & Bergen, K. M. (2018). Social construction theory: Communication co-creating families. In D. O. Braithwaite, E. A. Suter, & K. Floyd. (Eds.). Engaging theories in family communication: Multiple perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 267-278). Routledge.

Braithwaite, D. O., Waldron, V. R., Allen, J., Bergquist, G., Marsh, J., Oliver, B., Storck, K., Swords, N., & Tschampl-Diesing, C. (2018). “Feeling warmth and close to her”: Communication and resilience reflected in turning points in positive adult stepchild-stepparent relationships. Journal of Family Communication, 18 , 92-109. doi: 10.1080/15267431.2017.1415902

Dawn O. Braithwaite, Ph.D.

Dawn O. Braithwaite, Ph.D., a professor of communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studies families and close relationships, especially step- and chosen families.

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Communication Challenges in Modern Social Practices

  • Tatiana Dubrovskaya 5 , 6 ,
  • Natalya V. Sukhova 7 &
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Communication challenges to the twenty-first century humankind are as serious as materialistic ones. Search for meaning, the ever-present focus of human praxis, has gained new urgency in the current age of diversity and rapid transformations in all social spheres. This chapter is an overview of research on meaning-loaded forms in social interactions presented in the current volume. Modern communicative practices are characterized by a profound change in their shapes and formats: both everyday and institutional communication is becoming increasingly multimodal and digital. These new formats of communication require new approaches that would reveal underlying processes happening in the participants’ cognition.. In their contributions, the authors explore the connection between new communication patterns, technological innovations and underlying cognitive processes in an array of communicative situations in both physical and virtual environments. Recent decades have seen a singularly close integration of verbal and visual semiotic systems, which has become essential for social meaning construction and interpretation. Technological advances bring to the fore the role of digital competency in educational environments, generating intense discussions on the impact of video games, corpus technologies, online projects and other digital pedagogy techniques of effective classroom communication. In their observations on and theoretical implications of the diverse communicative patterns the authors draw on recent advances in neuroscience, genre theory, psychology and psycholinguistics. The volume may provide a point of reference for further discussions of multimodality, digitalization and cognitivity as the phenomena pertaining to the present day communicative and educational contexts.

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Dubrovskaya, T., Sukhova, N.V., Lobina, Y.A. (2021). Communication Challenges in Modern Social Practices. In: Sukhova, N.V., Dubrovskaya, T., Lobina, Y.A. (eds) Multimodality, Digitalization and Cognitivity in Communication and Pedagogy. Numanities - Arts and Humanities in Progress, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84071-6_1

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Technology and Communication – IELTS Writing Task 2

Courtney Miller

Updated On Oct 27, 2021

modern communication problems essay

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Technology and Communication – IELTS Writing Task 2

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Many people think modern communication technology is having some negative effects on social relationships. Do you agree or disagree?

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Opinion essay

Introduction

Paraphrase the topic of the essay (The impacts of digital communication on human relationships have long been a topic of controversy).

Give an insight into your viewpoint (From my perspective, modern means of communication may sabotage one’s relationships with other people).

Paragraph 1- Nowadays, various features such as built-in cameras and interactive games have been added to the mobile phone, making it multifunctional and thus even more popular. However, I believe the omnipresence of mobile phones in particular, or digital communication tools in general, often interferes with the bonding time that people share and thus has a negative influence on interpersonal relationships.

Paragraph 2- Some people use mobile phones mainly for virtual social networks, and notifications and messages from these sites may prevent them from having intimate conversations with their loved ones.

Conclude the topic by summing up your views and the extract of the essay.

Sample Essay

The impacts of digital communication on human relationships have long been a topic of controversy. From my perspective, modern means of communication may sabotage one’s relationships with other people.

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The most typical example of today’s communication technology is the mobile phone. Originally designed to provide people with instant access to telecommunication, it has become indispensable for most people in modern society. Nowadays, various features such as built-in cameras and interactive games have been added to the mobile phone, making it multifunctional and thus even more popular. However, I believe the omnipresence of mobile phones in particular, or digital communication tools in general, often interferes with the bonding time that people share and thus has a negative influence on interpersonal relationships. There is compelling evidence for my belief. If people use mobile phones for work purposes, business calls may disrupt any real-life conversations they have. This is the case for millions of working people who may have overlooked the importance of having smooth and uninterrupted conversations with other people. They may be unaware that relationships are at risk of eroding when people spend less quality time with each other. Also, if people use mobile phones to play games, the constant urge to complete game missions may disengage them from social gatherings. For example, many teenagers sacrifice real-life socialising time for mobile game playing time. In the long term, this would be likely to cause friends to drift apart.

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Some people use mobile phones mainly for virtual social networks, and notifications and messages from these sites may prevent them from having intimate conversations with their loved ones. There are many real examples of couples on the verge of breaking up because one or both partners have grown overly attached to social network applications on mobile phones, and they find it hard to maintain a sense of intimacy.

 Although most people use mobile phones for all personal as well as professional reasons and consequently, they need to pay constant attention to their phone, however, potentially isolating those in their company. In this way, mobile phones may dull real-life interactions and affect relationships as a result.

In brief, the constant distraction of modern communication devices such as mobile phones may cause the breakdown of numerous social relationships.

Band 9 Sample Essay

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Ever since the era of technology emerged, life has changed dramatically. Today where every second thing is being operated by digital contrivances, some ill effects have come floating by, as well. Generally, people put forth that the current digital scenario and communication devices and interfaces particularly have impeded and halted conventional interactions. I agree with this notion and shall be illustrating the same in the forthcoming paragraphs.

It is an inevitable truth that digitization has made our arduous lives extremely cosy and that it nearly ineluctable tangent that we all are on today. However, the impact it has had on social relationships are undeniably true. Family gatherings, outings and various other aspects of live communication have been trampled down upon with the uprising of online social networks. One to one discussion has been displaced by social media, the family time has been subjugated by facetime and webcams. Mobile phones have been the major disruptive cause in evicting out the person to person verbal communication. Owing to this sociability and amicability has been corroded off to substantial capacity. 

Secondly, people while being there in an online medium and e-communication transmission mask their realities to a larger level where it is hard to discern as to what one person is gravely going through behind the lenses. Moreover, a sense of harmony and connectedness has been deeply lacerated as one can’t get through the emotional streamline of others as well as it is in the case of one to one conversation. In addition to that, work from home, online schooling and internet parties can never compare and become congruent to the essence of offline setup. The gist and feel of very communication without screen barriers have definitely been exacerbated by the day to day unstinted techno-growth. Due to this, the communication gaps, misconstruction, misconception and misunderstandings have been preponderant and therefore, the relations have turned rancorous. For instance, many times the people who tend to be at loggerheads, resolve and laugh out the grudges they had post figuring out how paltry the issue was that could have never had been aired had the communication was in an offline environment. 

Though online communication tools are the need of the hour, the way it has obliterated and debilitated the lines of personal communication with a tinge of conversing effectively is indisputably true as well.

Therefore, in the conclusion, it could be stated that the layer of social harmony and personal belongingness has indeed been excruciated by the pillars and towers of online networking, where people communicate only when they are extremely in need of, thereby making them recluse and secluded.

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Post your Comments

modern communication problems essay

Posted on Dec 25, 2023

Hi. Hope you are well. I was wondering if it is okay to write ” I rather/partly agree with this statement ” in “Do you agree or disagree?” questions. More specifically in terms of Task Response and Coherence and Cohesion.

Many Thanks

IELTS Expert

IELTS Expert

Posted on Dec 26, 2023

Hello Setareh The expression suggested is very much mechanical in nature for coherence, thus should be avoided if you require bands above 7. Regarding Task Response, you can only use such an expression for the question which states ” to how much extent you agree or disagree”. Understanding the Parameters of IELTS is essential to Score good Bands, For a Detailed and Better Understanding of them, Avail a FREE Demo Session here.

modern communication problems essay

Zhan-han-han

Posted on Dec 14, 2023

In the era of digitalisation, the huge reliance on information technology to change the world in a unique way is no longer a fresh perspective. The advent of AI adoption and vast social media interaction is partly blended into human’s daily life. As a result, it ramps up the globalisation and distance between people is getting shorter as digital technology integrates people around the globe. On the flip side, negative consequences have been imposed on deteriorating social relationship. Regarding this statement, I am on the same wavelength with the stated opinion by providing strong reasoning as below.

First, the innovation of present communication technology has established an adamant fact that it changes human lives by accelerating the socioeconomic changes. There are a lot of built-in apps and online games available for people to explore by using their sophisticated mobile phones. Nonetheless, excessive reliance on the mobile phones will aggravate the fundamental relationship-building with people in real life. According to a publication, the teenagers and young adults have spent an average of 4 hours daily on their mobile phones. The result indicates that they devote most of their leisure time on gluing to the mobile screens apart from working or studying. Moreover, most parents reveal the truth that their children enter their rooms once they are back from school. This negative and worrying phenomenon has been invading the original social life as an adult, and they are ignoring in fostering a genuine relationship with their loved ones through face-to-face conversation. In the meantime, the addictive behaviours on playing online games among teenagers inhibit their intellectual skills as this may impact how they think, interact and work when they are entering the working society.

Second, the online education and various virtual meetings have been promoted since the outbreak of the COVID-19 which restrict people from engaging in real world environment. The rise in the digital adoption has particularly provided convenience to majority of people as they have the chance to obtain learning certificates from prestigious institutions in the view of ensuring a stable internet connection during the lesson. Despite these conveniences, the virtual studying environment is simply incomparable to the physical learning condition as most of the lectures could not detect the implicit or verbal behaviours of the students to acknowledge whether they are fully comprehending their lectures. This certainly makes the learning outcome less desirable compared to conventional teaching method. For instance, I am the living example who currently pursuing an online MBA program. In fact, I have lost the real opportunities to have a post-class discussion with my classmates or lecturers as there was a time limit being imposed on the live session. In accordance with these constraints, I had to post my questions by sending e-mail and Whatsapp messages which increases the communication cost due to longer time taken for replies. This poses some barriers on me in fortifying relationship with faculty members and fellow classmates.

As whole, I am advocating strongly that unintended social consequences are eminent due to extensive use of advanced communication technology. Although online communication provides fresh alternatives to expand the choice of communication medium, this tool should not be supplanting the primary use of communication tool via physical interaction. As a fact, digital communication tool is providing supplementary outlet for the role of real-world communication when someone is not available for meet-ups.

Posted on Dec 15, 2023

Overall Band: 6.5 Main ideas are extended and supported but there is over-generalisation and lack of focus and precision in supporting ideas.A mix of simple and complex sentence forms is used but flexibility is limited.

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Essays About Communication: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

Are you writing essays about communication? Check out our top essay examples and writing prompts to help you get started.

Communication is power and is critical to building a well-connected society. Communicating well is vital in working with people and shedding light on problems and solutions. Practical communication skills can help build relationships. 

If you’re writing an essay on communication and are having a hard time choosing a topic to focus on, here is our round-up of the best essay examples to get you started:  

1. The Benefits of Communication and Teamwork by Karenina Loayza

2. it’s time to tune in: why listening is the real key to communication by kate murphy, 3. a love language spoken with hands by ross showalter, 4. the role of body language in communication by ashley tulio, 5. the power of storytelling in marketing by dylan jacob, 1. how-to develop communication skills, 2. how-to write an inspiring speech, 3. should all leaders be good communicators, 4. theories of mass communication, 5. how are schools developing children’s communication skills, 6. communicating face-to-face vs. online , 7. marketing communications: what are they, 8. is communicating on social media effective, 9. is it possible to communicate effectively on virtual workplace platforms, 10. how-to communicate in the workplace.

“In one task, we were blindfolded and had to describe a set of irregular pieces. With varying degrees of English and different experiences of the world, it was like explaining an elephant to an alien.” 

Loayza narrates an exercise in class where they have to describe surrounding objects as accurately as possible to keep others from stumbling on them. The writer said the exercise demonstrated effectively the need for good communication skills for teams to succeed.

“Schools and universities have courses in debate, rhetoric and elocution, but rarely classes that teach listening. You can get a doctorate in speech communication and join Toastmasters International to perfect your speaking skills, but who strives for excellence in listening?”

Murphy muses on a world that glorifies the speakers but leaves no room for the listeners like her. She points out how social media has created a generation that prefers interacting behind the screen and filtering out opinions that do not resonate with theirs. Instead, Murphy emphasizes listening as a foundation for better human relations and offers solutions for how others can develop their listening for successful communication. 

“Will showed me that not everyone makes promises they don’t intend to fulfil. I don’t have to invest in someone who promises an action they’ll never do. Relationships only move forward once the work of communication begins.”

Showalter, a deaf man, laments how non-deaf ex-lovers have promised to learn sign language to better communicate with him – only to see these promises broken. Then, one morning, a remarkable man in his life sends a video message reviving hopes for Showalter and redefines his standard in relationships for the better. 

“Non-verbal communication can affect our words as it can reiterate our message, contradict our words, reinforce our statement, substitute the meaning of what we are trying to say, and complement what we are trying to say. Body language is something that is usually natural and is often done instinctively rather than consciously.”

Tulio, a communications specialist, stresses the importance of using body language for expression. She provides tips on maximizing gestures and body movement to convey emotions in person and through videoconferencing. 

“In marketing, storytelling provides an avenue to connect to consumers unlike any other. Brands are empowered to share and sell their values and personality in a form that feels less like advertising and more like a concerted effort to strengthen relationships with customers.

The author cites the viewpoints of a business school professor who explains how storytelling can shape the world’s perception of a brand. Finally, the author outlines the vital elements that make an exciting story capable of connecting with an audience and effecting action among consumers.

10 Writing Prompts On essays about communication

To further expand your horizon on the subject, you can work around our list of prompts that are interesting and relevant to date:

essays about communication: How-to develop communication skills

You can narrow down this essay to target employees, students, aspiring leaders, or those who want to improve their conversation skills. First, list down recommendations such as expanding their vocabulary and listening. Then, explain how they can incorporate this into their daily routine. 

Writing a speech that strikes a chord requires extra work in developing empathy and understanding the audience. Next, you can focus on providing recommendations for your essay, such as putting in a personal touch and linking this story to the broader subject. Make sure you also offer simple writing tips such as using the active voice as much as possible, keeping sentences short, and keeping the tone conversational. 

Cite research studies that detail why effective communication is a critical skill that makes a leader. Then, write about the organizational pitfalls of poor communication. Later, leaders who can speak engagingly and listen attentively to their team members can address these pitfalls. 

Communication theory is the study of processes in sending and receiving information. Discuss the four main theories of mass communication: the Authoritarian Theory, the Libertarian Theory, the Soviet-Communist Theory, and the Social-Responsibility Theory. Explain each one. Explain how each remains relevant in understanding modern communication processes. 

Interview schools within your community and learn about their language curriculum and other efforts to empower children to communicate well. You can also interview child development experts. Find out the biggest challenges in helping children improve how they express their thoughts and ideas. Then, find out what schools and parents are doing to address them. 

While you’d hear many people expressing a preference for face-to-face meetings, there are undoubtedly benefits to online meetings, which some usually dismiss. Weigh in on the pros and cons of in-person and online meetings, especially in the current scenario of an ongoing pandemic. 

What are the new marketing channels marketers are leveraging to reach their audience? Several surveys and studies show where most marketing campaigns allocate their budgets. One example is video content. 

An interesting angle would also involve looking at epic brand fails. Cite two or more cases, find a communication mishap common between them and provide what lessons can today’s brands learn from these epic fails. 

From interacting with loved ones and finding someone to date and love, social media has dramatically changed our ways of communication. It might be great to interview the elders who have experienced communicating through snail mail. Dive into their nostalgia and discover how they compare the experience of letter writing against instant chatting through mobile apps. 

Several apps today aim to transform workplaces to be more connected for interaction and communication. First, list down the top apps most used in the corporate world and discuss why these communication forms are preferred over email. Then, delve into the drawbacks and aspects of the apps that need improvements according to what business users say. 

Recent studies show that employees quit their jobs when they feel unable to talk about their needs in the workplace. Research the communication culture in the top companies in a specific field. How are they engaging with their employees? How are they driving conversations toward critical concerns?

TIP: You don’t have to write an extended essay. Here is a guide to writing a concise and organized five-paragraph essay.

For more help with writing, check out our best essay writing tips for a stress-free writing process. 

modern communication problems essay

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Chapter 6: 21st-century media and issues

6.10.2 Social media and communication (research essay)

Lindsey Matier

English 102, April 2021

Communication is extremely important in today’s world, whether it be verbal or nonverbal. It can take place through many different forms such as through writing, speaking, listening and physical actions. These forms of communication evolve and continue to improve over time. As humans, we rely on communication for almost everything and it is a way of life. Communication has evolved from talking to writing letters to texting or talking over the phone. Every time a new form of communication is brought up and becomes more popular, we have to adapt and evolve to that new lifestyle. Throughout all the new forms of communication and ways of evolving, social media has been one of the most influential so far. Social media has allowed us to create new ways of communicating, such as texting or posting through different apps. It can connect us with people all over the world and give us a platform to express ourselves in ways that have not been possible before. While social media started off as a small form of technology, it has morphed into aspects of our everyday life. Now there are apps for everything from social media profiles to online shopping. While social media and technology itself has evolved, this has also affected our communication with each other and the world. Social media has created a fast track for information in a matter of seconds. It can give people a platform with millions of followers overnight for doing practically anything. It can help people express themselves in new ways and connect with people who have similar interests. The end goal of social media is to make people happy and ultimately make lives easier.

Introduction

With all this being said, it is evident that social media is in our everyday lives and will continue to change. It has a very strong grip on society as social media usage continues to rise throughout the years. Generalizing social media, we are exposed to forms of media at almost all times of the day. Answering the question of what media is will help give a better understanding of social media as a whole. Media can be defined as a way of mass communication. This could include siting in the car listening to ads on the radio all the way to scrolling on twitter. We are exposed to social media less often than generalized media, but it tends to come in greater quantities when exposed. For example, for people that wake up and check twitter it is an instant flood of information with every scroll. Everything from politics to sports to celebrity news is available at the fingertips. The concern is not all focused on the overwhelming information, but also the overwhelming number of comments and opinions. If we wanted to debate or talk about something before social media it had to be done in person, face to face. Now with social media, we are able to fight with people in comment sections on a backup account with a different name and no connection to who we really are. This new form of communication takes away the vulnerability of speaking to people and having genuine conversation, and makes up for it in internet trolls. Overall, social media is impacting the way we communicate with each other and the real questions are: Is social media impacting us in a positive or negative way? Do the positive aspects outweigh the negative aspects? Is social media hindering the way we communicate in person with each other? Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life?

Personal Research 

Along with the other studies that I found from the sources I chose, I also conducted my own study to determine more accurate and recent data. I asked students mostly within high school and college range questions relating to social media and communication. I tried to get a wide range of data dealing with social media apps, screen time, and overall communication as a result of social media. I expected to see almost all negative responses about social media and communication. I figured that most people would respond saying that it has affected them negatively rather than positively, but the results were different compared to what I expected.

The first questions I asked had to do with social media itself. I asked questions about their most used social media apps, screen time, what age they were allowed to start using social media, and whether or not they think social media has had a negative or positive impact on them. As expected, most of the social media apps were some of the most popular ones like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Overall, the average screen time for all apps was evenly split between 4-6 and 6-8 hours, which I also expected. Something that did surprise me was the amount of time spent on certain social media apps. The data was split pretty evenly three ways and all between 1-4 hours. The next two questions dealt with when they group surveyed started using social media. I asked these questions because a lot of the points I want to discuss later in my paper have to deal with age and whether younger generations are suffering when it comes to communication. More than half the people surveyed said that they wished that they had waited to get social media until they were older. Some said that it is not appropriate for younger kids and that it is just toxic in general. Something that I really like that a couple people mentioned was that in reality, social media at a young age is stupid and useless. A lot of people said they wish they would have enjoyed their childhood more and they would be more extroverted now if they had not been exposed that early. The last question of this section that I asked was if they thought social media has had a more positive or negative impact on them. Overall, the data was split but leaning slightly towards the more positive side. The positive answers mostly dealt with being able to talk to stay in contact with people and meeting new friends. The negative answers all related to mental health and feeling bad about themselves. A lot of people said it is toxic and very controlling and takes up too much of our time.

The next set of questions I asked had to do more with communication and interaction with and without social media. I asked questions like how they feel about social media and how it has impacted their communication, their mental health, and if it has made our lives easier. I decided to ask questions like these because I figured I would get a wide range of responses and a lot of people’s different opinions. I started off by asking if people are an introvert or an extrovert to get an idea of what the responses would be like, and 66% said somewhere in between the two. The response for the next question really shocked me because I received such a one-side response. I asked if they think social media has impacted their communication and the way they interact with others and 75% (18/24 people) said yes. This is the information that I was looking for along with the next two questions. The next question asked if they think social media has negatively impacted their mental health and 50% said yes. I also plan on using this as a research question to show that social media can affect our mental health and therefore affect the way we interact with and around other people. The last two questions are similar but the responses were both very good. Almost everyone answered yes to the question asking if social media has made our lives easier. Everyone that answered yes said they think so because it helps them talk to friends, stay in touch with people they do not see as much, and meet new people that they are comfortable talking to. The people that said no also made good points such as it takes over our lives and it is filled with too much hate and cancel culture. I agree with both sides and am very happy that people can feel a positive response especially when it comes to communicating with other people online. The last question I asked was used to wrap up the whole survey and topic. I asked if they think social media has made our generation’s communication improve or worsen. The data was pretty evenly split, and most people gave a positive and a negative. The people that said improve gave that answer because they said it broadens our communication and allows us to talk to people at a wider range. The people who said it has made it worse all said that it is ruining our face-to-face interaction and causing us to lose emotion. They said that some people do not even know how to have a proper in person conversation and that they are too dependent on their phones. Overall, I agree with both arguments that people made but I do think that the positives outweigh the negatives in most of these situations and questions.

Research Questions

The first question I want to ask has to deal with the overall social media and communication connection and has multiple other questions I would like to cover within it. The main question is: Is social media hindering the way we communicate with each other? I also want to touch on questions like: Is social media impacting us in a positive or negative way? Do the positives outweigh the negatives? The second set of research questions I have is: Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication?

Research Question One

Social media and communication have a direct connection to each other and both have a strong impact on the outcome of the other. My first research question has to do with that. My questions center around how social media has impacted our communication, and whether or not it is positive or negative. First, I think it is important to note the changes and different characteristics that come into play when talking about this. Things like age and problems going on in our world can affect our social media usage and communication. While we connect to people on a deeper level when talking to the in person, social media has also given us a newer and more broad way of communicating. The article “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate” by Stacey Hanke, talks about different ways social media has impacted our communication. Social media has become so relevant in our day to day lives and Hanke describes it in a couple different ways. She describes it as information binging and the fear of missing out, social graces and conversational boredom. Within these, she explains how social media has become an excuse and escape to talk to people face to face. Hanke also talks about how even though it is limiting our in person communication, it can sometimes make communicating in general easier, by being able to talk to each other in just a few words (Hanke 1). In another article by Ryan J. Fuller titled “The Impact of Social Media Use on Our Social Skills”, he discusses similar topics to Hanke’s article but also brings up more positive attributes of social media. Fuller starts of his article by giving some statistics, stating that 75% of teens own cellphones and 25% of them using it for social media, and also says that they use 7.5 hours a day using it (Fuller 1). I am glad that this was brought up because it is important to know how much time is spent on social media, scrolling through feed. Next, Fuller starts to discuss some of the benefits of social media. He briefly explains how social media is beneficial because we are able to stay in touch with our friends and family, and share important parts of our lives with them. He also explains how it helps people reach out to new friends and provide themselves with more opportunities (Fuller 1). Overall, I really like that he mentioned these because it is important to keep in mind the vast majority of social media and communication. While some use it for more simpler purposes likes just keeping up to date with what is going on in the world, others use it to make new friends, find new job opportunities, and stay in touch with people. Another topic I find important when it comes to answering this research question is how Covid affected everything. With the pandemic, we were left inside with nothing to do but what was at our fingertips. This pandemic increased social media usage drastically. The article “Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Twitter Data” by Danny Valdez et al, shows extensive research into determining just how much social media usage in the United States increased during the pandemic. They did experiments and surveys to determine multiple responses to research questions and show how much we rely on social media to communicate with each other. During the pandemic, everyone spent more time on their social media and their phone in general, probably more than they would like to admit. The article helps give more insight into this claim. There is the idea that social media was meant as an addition to our lives. For some people, it has become an addiction and a new piece of their life. The article focuses on how social media could be a toxic place and have a negative effect on our mental health. The time period for this information focuses around the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from Twitter, Valdez created a study to determine the mood of people during the pandemic and the usage throughout (Valdez et al 2). Collecting tweets with certain hashtags and during time periods, the goal was to determine how much the pandemic affected people’s moods, and how much they put out and shared on social media. They used hashtags, timeline data, and tweets from different periods such as the first lockdown, different stay at home orders, etc. Given the responses to the data, they were able to determine the increase in social media usage. We cannot determine if this had a positive or negative effect on the people who were using Twitter, but we can infer that social media is becoming a key part of our lives. Not being able to talk to people as much in person during the first few months of the pandemic greatly affected communication, in positive and negative ways. Communication over the phone increased due to the amount of free time that people had and were able to spend talking to others. Contrary to that, in person communication also decreased given that people were not really allowed to leave the house. The next article by Tayebi et al, “The Role of Information Systems in Communication Through Social Media” focuses a lot about how we have evolved over time with social media and communication. They start off by talking about how social networks are like social media societies. They explain it by resembling it to a human society, as it is filled with people communicating, regardless of time or place. They also exemplify other aspects such as emotional support, information, emotions (Tayebi 2). Social media is constantly looked at through such a negative light due to some of the major bad events that have taken place. While it can be difficult at times to look past the negatives, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the positives. The growth of scientific research would not be possible without the amount of information received from the media (Tayebi 3). Without social media and media in general, we would not be where we are today as a society. As mentioned earlier, it is so easy to get lost in the negative aspects of social media and discard the positive ones. Positive parts of social media such as widespread communication and unlimited access to information makes it all worth it. Staying on topic with positive aspects of social media and communication, social media in the workplace has also broken down barriers for communication. The article “A Guide to the Successful Use of Social Media in the Workplace” by Clark Boyd gives insight into how social media has improved the workplace, and ultimately communication and interaction as a whole. Companies can use social media as a form of branding and way to communicate their products (Boyd 4). Boyd states, “Harvard Business Review finds that 82% of employees believe social media improves work relationships. Left to their own devices, your teams will connect and communicate on social networks, both inside and outside the office.” This directly relates to the research question asking whether social media hinders our communication with each other. Social media also helps when it comes to dealing with complaints placed online. By seeing these through social media, it can help the company communicate either with the person or their company the concerns that are being stated (Boyd 9). Overall, it is safe to say that social media has directly affected communication throughout different aspects of our lives.

Research Question Two

My second set of research questions has a lot to do with the future and how we can improve. Questions such as: Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication? The article “What is Literacy” by James Paul Gee talks a lot about the basics of communication. I find this an important article to talk about before I go into more detail with this second research question. Gee explains discourse as a socially accepted way of speaking, thinking, and acting (Gee 1). It is important to note this because social media has changed that discourse for us. We no longer communicate and interact the same way in which we use to therefore almost giving us a new discourse. Another thing Gee discusses is identity kits. Gee explains identity kits as “appropriate costumes and instructions on how to act and talk” (Gee 2). This relates to social media because there is a certain way we communicate online that we wouldn’t do in person. For example, we use emojis and abbreviations to communicate on social media or over text, but this is something we would not do when communicating face-to-face. There are also some basic well-known rules of social media that follow along the lines of an identity kit. Such as, for Instagram it is a common idea not to like people’s pictures from too long ago. When you say this aloud it sounds like it is not a big deal and silly almost, but for people that use social media it is something that makes sense. The next article is going to focus more on the question that has to do with room for improvement of communication. The article “The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media” by Francesca Valsesia, Davide Proserpio, and Joseph C. Nunes involves how we deal with social media and how we react to it. The article has a lot to do with pyramid schemes and marketing schemes on social media, simply due to follower count. Social media has a lot of power over us and the content we see. Influencers have too much impact on what we see every day and this overall effects our communication (Valsesia 1). Social media feeds us information at our fingertips, whether it be true or false. Valsesia is trying to get the point across that social media has no impact on our lives without the phone and therefore, having a smaller follower count is better for our communication and overall wellbeing in the first place. Leading into my next article, social media can have a huge impact on the younger generation. This leads into part of my second research question dealing with the younger generation and their communication. The article “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities” by Jacqueline Nesi shows how social media is a very complex brand of information and makes it complicated for everyone. Younger kids having access to it and multiple devices like computers and phones makes it that much more difficult. There are a lot of positives and negatives for younger kids having access to social media and the internet in general. It has an impact on their mental health and studies show it leads to signs of depression, body dysmorphia, eating disorders (Nesi 2). It can also affect their communication and outward identity due to things such as bullying, internet drama, and behavioral problems. While it does have serious negative risks, social media also can bring a lot of new positive ones. Things like creative ideas, humor and entertainment, and being able to explore their identity are all really great positives that social media gives us (Nesi 4). Most of them using it as a way to connect with friends and family and help them feel a sense of acceptance and belonging (Nesi 4). Similarly to this, social media has given a great outlet for kids and young adults to speak out on issues going on in the world. The article “Building Bridges: Exploring the Communication Trends and Perceived Sociopolitical Benefits of Adolescents Engaging in Online Social Justice Efforts” by Mariah Elsa Kornbluh goes into detail about the racial injustices in the world and how they are communicated through social media. Social media networks can help connect kids to different backgrounds and aspects of their lives (Kornbluh 1). Kornbluh expresses how a society only can flourish under civic engagement and being able to express ourselves, and social media is helping us do that. It is helping the younger generation prepare for the civic role that they will undergo (Kornbluh 2). Social media helps play a major role in participating in political movements and bringing awareness to topics (Kornbluh 3). This all is done by the younger generation and would not be possible without them. So, while it is easy to look at the negative parts of social media and how it effects the younger generation, it also brings great awareness to real life problems in our world. This last article I wanted to go over dealing with this research question has to do with the pandemic. The article “Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries” by Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih, Ahmed M. Hasanein and Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr briefly talks about communication with social media in higher education systems. Education systems had to switch from in person learning and communication to online learning, which was a struggle for everyone. Throughout the time that this took place, results showed that social media had a positive effect on students dealing with this (Sobaih 1). Students used social media to build a community and help support each other through this rough time. Through these results, proper usage of social media can be shown as a positive result for a new era of learning (Sobaih 1). This is just one more reason why social media can help us improve our future.

After answering my research questions, it has become clear to me that while social media does have negative aspects, the positive aspects outweigh them. Between the articles and my own research, I have enough evidence to prove that social media does effect communication, but in a more positive way. The way we act and present ourselves is heavily influenced by social media and communication between generations are different and can be seen that way. It is important to note the accomplishments we have made as a society with social media and the media in general. It has helped connect families, provide support groups, and provide entertainment in desperate times. Our communication has changed because of social media but has changed and helped us for the better in the long run. Keeping social media a positive place and staying away from the toxic people on it will only help us grow and learn new things about ourselves.

Works Cited

Boyd, Clark. “A Guide to Using Social Media in the Workplace in 2021.”  The Blueprint , The Blueprint, 13 May 2020, www.fool.com/the-blueprint/social-media-in-the-workplace/.

https://www.fool.com/the-blueprint/social-media-in-the-workplace/

D, Valdez, et al. “Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Twitter Data.”  Journal of Medical Internet Research  , vol. 22, no. 12, 14 Dec. 2020, pp. 1438–8871.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu:2050/eds/detail/detail? vid=8&sid=ff59b04c-b868-44cd-b864-4538e112a2ea%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=33284783&db=mnh

J, Nesi. “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Health: Challenges and Opportunities.”  North Carolina Medical Journal , vol. 81, no. 2, 2020, pp. 116–121.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu:2050/eds/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=ff59b04c-b868-44cd-b864-4538e112a2ea%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=32132255&db=mnh

Gee, James Paul. “What is literacy.”  Negotiating academic literacies: Teaching and learning  across languages and cultures  (1998): 51-59.

https://academic.jamespaulgee.com/pdfs/Gee%20What%20is%20Literacy.pdf

Hanke, Stacey. “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate.”  Thrive Global , 13  Sept. 2018, thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-affects-our-ability-to-communicate/.

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-affects-our-ability-to-communicate/

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu:2050/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=467b825c-34f8-4e47-95df-e5b2b61bbaf4%40sessionmgr4006

Kornbluh, Mariah Elsa. “Building Bridges.”  Youth & Society , vol. 51, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1104–1126., doi:10.1177/0044118×17723656.

https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0044118X17723656

Retchin, Sarah, et al. “The Impact of Social Media Use on Social Skills.”  New York Behavioral Health , 1 Dec. 2020, newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills/.

https://newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills/

Sobaih, Abu Elnasr E., et al. “Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries.”  MDPI , Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 12 Aug. 2020, www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6520/htm.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6520/htm

Tayeb, Seyed Mohammad, et al. “The Role of Information Systems in Communication through Social Media.”  International Journal of Data and Network Science , vol. 3, no. 3, 2019, pp. 245–268., doi:10.5267/j.ijdns.2019.2.002.

http://www.growingscience.com/ijds/Vol3/ijdns_2019_15.pdf

Valsesia, Francesca, et al. “The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media .”  Journal of Marketing Research  , vol. 57, no. 6, Dec. 2020, pp. 1152–1168.

https://www.francescavalsesia.com/uploads/1/0/5/1/105151509/the_positive_effect_of_not_following_others_on_social_media.pdf

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Lindsey Matier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Modern Communications Mean That It Is No Longer Necessary To Write Letters | Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample

by Manjusha Nambiar · Published April 9, 2022 · Updated April 27, 2023

Modern communications mean that it’s no longer necessary to write letters. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Here is a band 8 essay sample on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample

According to some people, due to the advent of new age communication technologies, it is no longer necessary to write letters. I do not agree with this view.

It is true that emails and instant messaging have changed the way we now communicate. The vast majority of us now do not write letters to friends or acquaintances. However, letters are still written for official communication. For example, I still write letters to my bank. Likewise, they send me letters regarding my account. So, letter writing is still relevant. Governments and other agencies often send us letters. That is why post offices still function. I do admit that the practice of writing letters to family or friends has died; however, official communication is still through letters to a great extent. This is probably because a letter with a signature is a tangible proof. Emails aren’t really considered a proof in courts of law because they can be forged easily.

Secondly, despite the mind-boggling enhancements in the communication area, octogenarian people still prefer the vintage ways. This is because they admire sending a hand-written letter to their beloved ones as it contains emotions.  For instance, my grandmother used to write letters to me when I was living in a hostel. She is no more but I still keep those letters as a souvenir and a proof of her affection. Additionally, people who are not familiar with modern technologies like email may prefer to write letters.

In conclusion, the recent development in information technology has enabled people to communicate without writing letters. Despite this, the practice of writing letters is still relevant and carries irrefutable weight for a particular group. In my opinion, both means of communication should be used depending upon the need and the nature of the situation.

Do you have an essay on this topic? Submit it below in the comments for a free band score estimate.

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Essays on Modern Communication

14 samples on this topic

Crafting piles of Modern Communication papers is an implicit part of modern studying, be it in high-school, college, or university. If you can do that all by yourself, that's just awesome; yet, other students might not be that skilled, as Modern Communication writing can be quite troublesome. The database of free sample Modern Communication papers introduced below was set up in order to help flunker learners rise up to the challenge.

On the one hand, Modern Communication essays we publish here precisely demonstrate how a really remarkable academic paper should be developed. On the other hand, upon your request and for a fair cost, a professional essay helper with the relevant academic experience can put together a fine paper example on Modern Communication from scratch.

Free Analyzing Different News Articles About A Similar Event Essay Sample

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Example Of Modern Communication Technology Essay

Technology has changed every aspect of human life. It has changed the way how people communicate with their family and friends. The process of growth in technology and communication have been observed in a parallel way and technological inventions like internet, mobile phones, social media has helped the communication in entering into the next level. This paper intends to discuss the way how technology has influenced the way of communication in modern times.

Example Of Essay On The Following Pictures Can Reflect The Personality In The Online Platform

Introduction to Digital Communication

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Example Of Essay On Media Policy

American psychological association research paper, twitter essay, bank of america discipline investigation essay examples, example of book review on the postal age, research paper on how is modern communication technology changing the political landscape, effective business communication report.

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Essay on Importance of Communication for Students and Children

500+ words essay on importance of communication:.

Communication is one of the important tools that aid us to connect with people. Either you are a student or a working professional, good communication is something that will connect you far ahead. Proper communication can help you to solve a number of issues and resolve problems. This is the reason that one must know how to communicate well. The skills of communication essential to be developed so that you are able to interact with people. And able to share your thoughts and reach out to them. All this needs the correct guidance and self-analysis as well.

essay on importance of communication

Meaning of Communication

The word communication is basically a process of interaction with the people and their environment . Through such type of interactions, two or more individuals influence the ideas, beliefs, and attitudes of each other.

Such interactions happen through the exchange of information through words, gestures, signs, symbols, and expressions. In organizations, communication is an endless process of giving and receiving information and to build social relationships.

Importance of Communication

Communication is not merely essential but the need of the hour. It allows you to get the trust of the people and at the same time carry better opportunities before you. Some important points are as follows –

Help to Build Relationships 

No matter either you are studying or working, communication can aid you to build a relationship with the people. If you are studying you communicate with classmates and teachers to build a relationship with them. Likewise in offices and organizations too, you make relationships with the staff, your boss and other people around.

Improve the Working Environment 

There are a number of issues which can be handled through the right and effective communication. Even planning needs communication both written as well as verbal. Hence it is essential to be good in them so as to fill in the communication gap.

Foster strong team

Communication helps to build a strong team environment in the office and other places. Any work which requires to be done in a team. It is only possible if the head communicates everything well and in the right direction.

Find the right solutions

Through communication, anyone can find solutions to even serious problems. When we talk, we get ideas from people that aid us to solve the issues. This is where communication comes into play. Powerful communication is the strength of any organization and can help it in many ways.

Earns more respect

If your communication skills are admirable, people will love and give you respect. If there is any problem, you will be the first person to be contacted. Thus it will increase your importance. Hence you can say that communications skills can make a big change to your reputation in society.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Don’t Go Overboard With Your Point

The conversation is about to express your thoughts. And to let the other person know what you feel. It is not mean to prove that your point is correct and the other person is wrong. Don’t Overboard other With Your Point.

Watch Your Words

Before you say something to Watch Your Words. At times, out of anger or anxiousness, we say somethings that we must not say. Whenever you are in a professional meeting or in some formal place, where there is a necessity of communicating about your product or work then it is advised to practice the same beforehand

Communication is the greatest importance. It is important to sharing out one’s thoughts and feelings to live a fuller and happier life. The more we communicate the less we suffer and the better we feel about everything around. However, it is all the more necessary to learn the art of effective communication to put across ones point well.

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Modern Problems and Opportunities in our Society Exploratory Essay

Introduction.

In modern society, people are facing serious problems that have impacted negatively on their lives. These problems are social, economic or political problems (Davis, 2004). These problems have led to the deteriorating development in many countries of the world. The situation is severe in third world countries.

The problems have caused immense suffering to the people living in these counties and huge amounts of money are being used in addressing the problems. The outcome has been vicious circle of poverty amongst the several countries.

Main problems; their prevalence and how they have affected the Society

The societal problems encountered today may be either natural or artificial (Guba & Lincoln, 1909).

The most serious ones include poverty, diseases (cancer, HIV Aids, diabetes, malaria), child abuse and molestation, drug abuse, corruption and racial discrimination, inequality, economic problems such as unemployment, rapid population growth and infant mortality among others.

Despite the fact that some efforts have been made to reduce these problems the rate at which they are being wiped out is very low.

A disease like malaria is a serious killer especially in the tropical areas that has claimed the lives of many people including young children.

The other dangerous diseases include cancer, diabetes and HIV aids which are incurable. The prevalence of such diseases bring with them other problems, for instance many orphans who are left by their parents become dependency and are burden to the society.

Problems like criminal injustices are very common in many countries and the most shocking thing is that they are perpetrated by the ones who should be against the virtue. There is no fair treatment and this has been strengthened by the increasing corruption.

Discrimination is all over and people are being deprived of their rights. Discrimination leads to misallocation of resources and people perpetrate poverty among the disadvantaged groups in the societies (Guba & Lincoln, 1909).

Poverty is another major social problem that is threatening the lives of many civilians. It is estimated that almost more than a half of the world’s population is living below the poverty line.

Child abuse and molestation has been on the increase. There has been several reported cases of rape amongst the young children, a major violation of human rights that is affecting the welfare of both the victims and those who take care of them.

Drugs are being abused everyday life. Many youths’ lives are at stake due to misuse of drugs. Drugs abuse bring with them both social and economic costs. The economic costs are incurred in the sense that rehabilitation expenses and other medical costs are incurred in tackling the drug abuse related cases.

The social costs are on the user’s side since there is serious deterioration in one’s life. Rapid population growth is a demographic and social problem prevalent in developing nations. This leads to competition of the available resources and high dependency ratio in those countries.

This condition has led to the emergence of other social problem due to limited social amenities. There has been an issue of gender violence among some families, a situation that has been difficult to handle.

Almost all the problems being faced in modern world are created by the human being himself and they are increasing at a very high rate thus compromising the betterment of human welfare (Guba & Lincoln, 1909).

Opportunities arising as a result of the Societal Problems

Every problem calls for a course of action (Goodman, 1984). In the process of addressing the above-mentioned problems, some opportunities are created for the people who are involved. International development groups are emerging out to assist the victims of poverty through provision of humanitarian aid.

They require people to handle the tasks and subsequent creation of job opportunities for those handling the tasks. Problems like drug abuse are brought about by the psychological problems and therefore they call for peer counselors and appropriate advice to the victims.

In addition, rehabilitation facilities need to be put in place to assist the victims. All these require well-established institutional frameworks that also require personnel and specialized facilities that need to be established. Consequently, there is creation of more employment opportunities.

In a move to combat several cases of human rights violation and criminal injustice cases, there is greater need to maximize citizen’s welfare and enhance development in the society. There has been emergence of numerous advocacy and lobby groups to effect the desired change in the society.

They are being led by human rights activists that want to see justice restored and the fundamental human rights are properly safeguarded (Davis, 2004).

The efforts are also enhanced through international support whereby numerous opportunities are created and where people can share ideas and some job opportunities are created.

The most serious problems facing the modern societies have contributed to backwardness, injustices and reduced democratic space. It has been noted that majority of the problems are caused by human beings themselves (Goodman, 1984).

Though the problems come along with some opportunities, the damage they cause to the society is huge and appropriate measures need to be put in place to make the world a better place to live.

Davis, G. A. (2004). Creativity is forever . Atlanta: Hunt Publishing Company.

Goodman, N. (1984). Of mind and other matters . Cambridge, M: Harvard University Press.

Guba, E. & Lincoln, Y. (1909). Fourth generation evaluation . Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

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    Rubinelli S, Myers K, Rosenbaum M and Davis D. Implications of the current COVID-19 pandemic for communication in healthcare. Patient Educ Couns 2020; 103: 1067-1069. Merivale J. 'Masked ...

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    The 14 Most Common Communication Challenges Within Modern Companies and Tips on How to Overcome Them. by . by Nikola Baldikov. July 22, 2022 / February 14, 2024. ... As a result, there cannot be a pre-established schedule and formula for solving every problem. Nonetheless, managers that want to give their employees a voice could host regular ...

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    Although this form of communication is one way, it ensures that clients are updated on ventures taken by business. Websites contain a description of the company, its goals, management, products and services offered history of the company and the company contacts. +1 (888) 216-9741 +1 (888) 585-0586. [email protected].

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    The main objective of this research paper is to acquire an efficient understanding of communication in the modern era. The developments that have taken place in the system of communication in the ...

  13. Essays About Communication: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

    Tulio, a communications specialist, stresses the importance of using body language for expression. She provides tips on maximizing gestures and body movement to convey emotions in person and through videoconferencing. 5. The Power of Storytelling in Marketing by Dylan Jacob.

  14. 6.10.2 Social media and communication (research essay)

    8.2.3 The overwhelming influence of technology (research essay) 8.3.1 Communication and literacy during COVID (prospectus) 8.3.2 Communication and literacy in the classroom during COVID-19 (research essay) 8.4 Problems with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (synthesis)

  15. Essay On Modern Communication

    Essay On Modern Communication. 708 Words3 Pages. In the dawn of the 20th century, Information technology radically changed the way humanity could communicate and exchange information. Before everyone used smart phones and computers, people communicated with one another using traditional means such as letters, the telegraph and the telephone.

  16. 634 Communication Essay Topics & Examples

    Communication and Problem Solving - Part One. It is a two way process because it involves listening and reflecting the responsibility of speaker or listener, its clear, and uses proper feedback, whereas problem solving is a mental process and involves finding the […] Communication and Problem Solving - Part Two.

  17. Modern Communications Mean That It Is No Longer Necessary To Write

    Here is a band 8 essay sample on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me. Band 8 IELTS essay sample. According to some people, due to the advent of new age communication technologies, it is no longer necessary to write letters. I do not agree with this view.

  18. Modern Communication Report Essay Example

    Examples of modern communication include email, text messaging, video conferencing, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These forms of communication allow people to stay connected with each other in real-time, regardless of their physical location. The five modern means of communication are email, text messaging ...

  19. Communication Problems Essay

    Communication Problems At The Workplace. Little Rock AFB Campus, AR October 6, 2015 Introduction "Communication problems in the workplace can cost your company productivity and money. Without efficient communication, your company is unable to exchange information essential to daily operations and create a communication network….." (Root ...

  20. Modern Communication Essay Examples

    Surveillance And Convenience Essay Example. This paper would like to research about the impact brought about by the advancement of communication technology, especially in surveillance technology, to an individual's privacy and convenience. The rapid advancement in communication technology is one of the most salient feature of the modern society.

  21. Essay on Importance of Communication for Students and Children

    500+ Words Essay on Importance of Communication: Communication is one of the important tools that aid us to connect with people. Either you are a student or a working professional, good communication is something that will connect you far ahead. Proper communication can help you to solve a number of issues and resolve problems.

  22. Communication Challenges and Effects

    Communication Challenges and Effects Essay. Exclusively available on IvyPanda. Updated: Nov 2nd, 2023. Communication is a complex process that has a tremendous effect on people's life. Those who have difficulties with communicating are not fully integrated into the society as the ties in the society are based mainly on communication.

  23. Modern Problems and Opportunities in our Society

    Introduction. In modern society, people are facing serious problems that have impacted negatively on their lives. These problems are social, economic or political problems (Davis, 2004). These problems have led to the deteriorating development in many countries of the world. The situation is severe in third world countries.