Danica Lykteky
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Some of the fondest and most fulfilling moments in my life have been the ones where I get lost in conversation with those I love, like the nights I stayed up talking to my best friend, getting into even the deepest topics with nothing off-limits and nothing left unsaid.

But lately, I find myself mostly communicating digitally with my friends, and no matter how late we stay up texting or sending each other TikToks, I never close my eyes feeling that same sense of fulfillment as I do going to sleep after a late-night frozen yogurt run ending with hours of conversation in a parked car with those same people.

Since the 1990s, online communication has been on the rise, and in the last decade, we have seen a significant boom in its use. With the rise of messaging services and social media apps such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok that allow you to instantly send messages anytime and anywhere, it has never been easier to stay in touch. It is not hard to see the appeal of online communication — its ease, accessibility and efficiency. You can text someone on the other side of the world, receive news from other countries, and collaborate with other cultures at the touch of a finger in ways we have never been able to do before.

Although online communication has completely revolutionized the way we stay connected as a species, it doesn’t come without its consequences, many of which the majority of the population is unaware of. Gone are the days of mailing letters and talking over the phone. Even further lost is the art of face-to-face communication.

Communication is vital to human life, deeply rooted in our need for survival. We cannot thrive without interacting with our environment, including the people around us. As a species, we have always preferred collaborative living and the relationships we develop in all aspects of our lives significantly impact our well-being. As the saying goes, “To communicate is to be human.”

Throughout most of history, communication meant being in the presence of another person. It meant not only having deep, meaningful conversations verbally but also communicating through nonverbal cues like facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice and body language. These face-to-face interactions have been shown to improve quality of life, which explains why I always feel happier after spending time with my loved ones.

In online communication, much of this depth is lost. Sure, thanks to the technological advancements in digital communication, I can text my best friend from 250 miles away while I’m at school, but that “LOL” I send does not carry the same weight as sharing that experience of laughing in person, or laughing at each other’s laugh, would.

American social psychologist Robert Kraut conducted a study on the psychological and social effects of internet use in the mid-’90s, right when digital communication was beginning to rise. The findings were sobering: “Greater use of the internet was associated with declines in participants’ communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in depression and loneliness.”

The more that someone used the Internet to communicate, the less they interacted with those they cared about and those directly surrounding them in real life. Social disengagement, often a result of too much screen time, is also associated with poor quality of life and diminished physical and psychological health. In the digital sphere, a 2017 study further confirmed that the use of the Internet for interpersonal communication cannot replace face-to-face interactions for improving quality of life, especially among a disproportionate amount of young users.

The internet and our reliance on it has only expanded since Kraut’s time. A recent 2024 study found that over 63 percent of respondents prefer online communication over in-person conversations, indicating a significant shift toward digital interactions and a corresponding decline in face-to-face communication. The preference we have for online communication can hinder the development of crucial social and interpersonal skills, especially among developing individuals, like children, and redefine the place of in-depth relationships in our culture.

Children growing up in front of a screen are struggling to read the social and emotional cues associated with face-to-face interaction, an ability that is associated with many positive personal, social and academic outcomes and positive peer relationships. All this to say, if we continue to solely on the internet for the majority of our communication, we will lose the ability to communicate in person and foster positive relationships, skills that have long been necessary for our species to grow and thrive.

While these statistics may seem like a random list of data, they all point to one overarching conclusion: We are losing the art of face-to-face communication due to our reliance on digital interactions, leading to a detrimental impact on our relationships and overall well-being. It is crucial that we recognize the damage being done in replacing in-person communication with online interactions both on an individual and societal level. We must limit this substitution in our lives and encourage face-to-face interaction whenever possible, especially for developing children, before we face a generational loss of social skills and interpersonal depth. More deep frozen yogurt talks, fewer “LOL”s.

Danica Lyktey is a freshman majoring in psychology. 

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.