First, although the efficiency of communication has increased substantially, the efficiency of “communication” does not necessarily increase. The ever-expanding network of relationships has reduced the stability of intimacy and increased the difficulty of maintenance.
In modern society, the increase of media channels has increased the size of the entire society. Efficient communication tools allow people to have time and opportunities to reach out to netizens outside the circle of daily life, develop and upgrade existing relationships, and greatly expand the scope of people’s communication.
The use of communication technologies by young Internet users is even higher than the overall average of Internet users. The network has significantly expanded young people’s social relations, making the entire interpersonal relationship extremely complex, increasing selectivity, distracting their energies, and increasing the temptations and risks they face. This makes it easy to threaten real, stable intimacy.
Second, the high frequency of Internet use may lead to social isolation. The media has a crucial influence on people’s interactions and the formation of social characters. On the Internet, daily activities such as shopping, learning, games, entertainment, and talking to people can basically be realized.
When young people are immersed in the Internet media every day, this kind of convenient and accessible simulated social life replaces the actual natural interaction. It also formed a detachment from the outside world. The Internet has become purely a means for them. The Internet is an integral part of life. Since the control of human-machine relations is much stronger than the control of real interpersonal relationships, coupled with the satisfaction of psychological needs and basic living needs, young people are more likely to become dependent on this humanized human-computer relationship.
And they tend to be more and more closed in real life. Using online media, they frequently communicate with outsiders in an attempt to eliminate loneliness. However, the interpersonal relationships established in the online virtual community are almost entirely weak relationships that do not rely on social trust. In the cyber world, false information is spread all over the world. It is difficult for a friend made through the Internet to gain a high degree of trust. For a long time in such information communication, people are more likely to fall into loneliness.
According to a survey conducted by the King’s College of the University of London, the younger generation growing up in social networks is not lacking in online social networking, but many of them feel lonely in real life, do not love to go out and lack social skills. Some even ‘did not answer the phone or reply.’ Adolescent loneliness may be accompanied by anxiety and depression, hindering the development of social skills in reality. Social skills play a very important role in the future work, but they are difficult to teach.
They can only be learned naturally during the youth period. The survey revealed the loneliness of the younger generation and the lack of social interaction, which will be detrimental to their future well-being and British economic development. In addition, because social media users are less likely to reflect on their behavior and the world around them, it is easy to develop negative personalities such as narcissism, insecurity, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In addition, this so-called sense of decentralization makes the common people, including the youth group, greatly weaken the conflict of opinion leaders’ discourse, and the individual expression characteristics are unconsciously strengthened. Especially young people, their world outlook, outlook on life, and values are not yet mature, and they are not only easily induced in network interactions, but also may be biased in their values due to their “rebellious psychology” and incited by various extreme opinions. Eventually they went to a group polarization.
