Topic: Impact of new media communication on social interactions among college students.
1. Introduction
a. The Goal of the Research
The goal of this research is to determine how new media has impacted social interactions among college students.
a. Theoretical Implications
This research is based on the theory that new media is leading to isolation and privatization of people’s lives thus affecting social interactions.
b. Study of the Idea
This study will be conducted through a survey where participants will be required to fill in questionnaires.
2. Literature Review
a. New Media
· It is referred to as new media because it is digital and a result of the evolution of technology.
· It includes social media, online communication, emails, websites, digital cameras, and mobile apps among others (Aguirre et al, 2016).
b. Communication
· Communication is the sharing or transfer of information from one place, person, or group to another (West & Turner, 2018).
· It can be verbal, written, non-verbal, or visual.
· It is an important and vital skill and its impact on improving the quality of life cannot be understated (West & Turner, 2018).
c. New Media Communication
· This is a form of electronic communication where content is made available through the using of computer technology (Lipschultz, 2017).
· It has improved communication between people all over the world and enabled people to be more expressive (Lipschultz, 2017).
d. Impact of New Media Communication on Social Interactions
· New media technologies are greatly impacting society and their integration into the social setting is influencing social interactions (Perse & Lambe, 2016).
· According to Misra et al (2016), the empathetic level of people who communicated in the absence of new media was higher than that of people who communicated using new media technologies.
· The use of new media has led to the loss of personal interactions as these have been replaced by voice calls and video calls (Vevere, 2015).
· New media has led to an increase in cases of cyberbullying and humiliation among members of society (Skoric et al, 2016).
· New media has affected learning among students and led them to develop more aggression in terms of behavior (Lau, 2017).
3. Hypotheses and Research Questions
a. Research Questions
1. Does new media communication have effects on the social interactions of college students?
1. Has the use of new media communication positively affected how college students interact socially?
1. Has the use of new media communication negatively affected how college students interact socially?
b. Hypotheses
· H01: New media has affected how college students interact socially.
· HA1: New media has not affected how college students interact socially.
· H02: New media has positively affected how college students interact socially.
· HA2: New media has not positively affected how college students interact socially.
· H03: New media has negatively affected how college students interact socially.
· HA3: New media has not negatively affected how college students interact socially.
4. Discussion
a. Summary of Research Questions and Hypothesis
· Most students agreed that new media has had significantly affected their social interactions with their peers.
· Most students insisted that new media has positively helped them by allowing them to connect with students from other colleges.
· According to most students, they would rather communicate with distant peers over the phone rather than communicate personally with another student.
· Most students agreed that they would rather have academic discussions online rather than meet personally while others said that they prefer online classes.
· Students agreed that they prefer playing games on their computer rather than going out with friends.
b. Significance of the Proposed Study
· New media communication is affecting social interactions by leading people to isolate themselves and privatize their lives.
c. Limitations
· The major limitation of this research is that it uses college students as its study population making it difficult to generalize the results of the research.
d. Future Research Directions
· Further research should be carried out to determine if the positive effects of new media on the social interactions of college students outweigh the negative effects or the other way around.
· Further research should also be conducted to determine how we can use new media to enhance social interactions among college students.
e. Conclusion
· The advancement in technology has led to the increased use of new media communication among people.
· New media technologies are greatly impacting society and their integration into the social setting is influencing social interactions.
· This new media communication has led people to privatize their lives and isolate themselves from other people.
· College students are among the heavy users of new media communication.
· The use of new media communication has been found to have significant effects on the social interactions of college students.
· New media communication has affected social interactions among college students both positively and negatively.
5. References
Aguirre, E., Roggeveen, A. L., Grewal, D., & Wetzels, M. (2016). The personalization-privacy paradox: implications for new media. Journal of Consumer Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JCM-06-2015-1458/full/html
Lau, W. W. (2017). Effects of social media usage and social media multitasking on the academic performance of university students. Computers in human behavior, 68, 286-291. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563216307841
Lipschultz, J. H. (2017). Social media communication: Concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xkUrDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=new+media+communication&ots=I-3UVL0OCh&sig=7bWn2jqalIp99xGmfxsLim1v010
Misra, S., Cheng, L., Genevie, J., & Yuan, M. (2016). The iPhone effect: The quality of in-person social interactions in the presence of mobile devices. Environment and Behavior, 48(2), 275-298. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916514539755
Perse, E. M., & Lambe, J. (2016). Media effects and society. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=W8bLDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=impact+of+new+media+on+personal+relationships&ots=GY-JoMHaOH&sig=9TMKt98tozBuRZDyqBZq69juSVE
Skoric, M. M., Zhu, Q., Goh, D., & Pang, N. (2016). Social media and citizen engagement: A meta-analytic review. New Media & Society, 18(9), 1817-1839. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444815616221
Vevere, V. (2015). Impact of social media on interpersonal communication patterns. Socialinių mokslų studijos, 7(1), 124-138. Retrieved from https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=319627
West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2018). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis And Appliaction. McGraw-Hill Education,. Retrieved from http://thuvienso.vanlanguni.edu.vn/handle/Vanlang_TV/8555
