The development of networks and the internet allows us to connect and communicate in a real-time with our friends, family, and even coworkers. The distance may be irrelevant to the conversations with friends and family as we have social networking sites including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp within reach. However, these relationships do not come without a cost; they come with new forms of digital indicators that help us to define and handle them.
The invention of multiple channels which creates borderless communication significantly increases the quantity of digital indicators available today. These, as most often seen nowadays are double check marks, blue ticks, the last time someone was active, tags, and so on. They also have impacted social media interactions, resulting in a network of social cues that are quite intricate and have the potential to be misinterpreted.
Online communication is said to provide new knowledge regarding social relations. Confusion arises when we are unable to reach a person or receive a prompt response. We often overthink and mistake emotional absence for excessive self-doubt in such scenarios.
The need to be constantly available and responsive can lead to anxiety and the feeling of missing out, known as FOMO. The more we engage with these sites, the more we feel the need to present a favorable image in the hope of receiving likes, comments, and shares.
Double ticks sent in WhatsApp messages indicate that a message has been delivered, while blue ticks indicate that a message has been received and read. These attributes can create a certain anticipation or urgency in the situation. Someone may feel stressed or nervous, for example, if they send a text message to somebody who subsequently reads it but chooses to not reply.
Gentle bumps as blue ticks are sometimes referred to can also serve to demonstrate care and attention in social interactions. When the recipient of your message ignores your communication on numerous occasions, that may mean to say that such a person does not care about the communication and there is a disconnect in the relationship, while consistent replies can indicate the presence of intimacy in the relationship.
The “Last Seen” option reveals the last time the user accessed the application. However, it may also spark, or increase, concern or feelings of envy. For instance, when a close friend is online a lot but never responds to you, you may start to question the strength of that friendship. On the other hand, being aware of someone’s last activity can also help in knowing the times when this person is free whose result will be a good schedule for the conversation.
Friends may be recognized and incorporated into a person's life when the person posts a photo or an image tagging the friend on social networking sites. While tagging someone may suggest a bond formed or that the two shared an experience, not tagging someone may create feelings of rejection. When our friends are tagged in someone else's posts and we are not, we tend to feel insecure about our position in their social network.
Almost all social platforms have included already built-in emoticons such as a variety of “likes” or hearts and other unique emotions. Reacting to such types of responses can be the understanding of one’s relation to another in terms of its magnitude or its nature. For example, it may be perceived as less attractive when a close friend thumbs up your posts a few times but never comments on them, after that whenever he or she posts quite frequently interesting replies. On the other hand, the heart emoji would suggest a more strong emotional connection and in some ways seem more intimate and encouraging.
Your partner adding a heart reaction to someone else's post could lead to jealousy and assume that there is more going on than there is in a relationship. This shows how with the coming of these digital indicators, people are redefining loyalty and trust.
Stories can be created and uploaded on social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram. If a close friend frequently views your stories but does not engage with your posts, the friend may be assumed to only possess a passive interest in the relationship. The opposite may happen if the friend is active elsewhere, you may get the impression the person is too busy or uninterested to even check your stories.
Also, it seems that when one posts stories about another, it denotes the closeness that one shares with the person involved in those stories. Even though something very minimal, these things might signify very big things in our relationships of any kind.
Relationships change dramatically depending on whether an individual chooses to follow or unfollow someone on social media. If a user decides to unfollow, this may feel like a sentiment of abandonment or rejection.
However, a follow can also signify the start or growth of effective interaction. Resentment towards one’s social standing can also happen due to witnessing one’s actions, such as unfollowing or not following someone back, usually by a close friend or family member.
In addition, the level of relational proximity may also be determined from the dynamics of conversations in groups. Inclusion in group chat conversations may denote certain levels of familiarity of intimacy and shared experiences. However, such understanding of the priorities and positions of friends is likely to be dependent on the activity in that particular conversation – the speaker and the listener. If one is constantly met with silence, it might begin to fish for questions such as what’s my importance in that circle?
The growth of these digital symbols is constantly changing the way we perceive relationships for the worse. Though these are useful insights that tell about the different facets of social relationships, they also create stress and anxiety which may eventually compromise the attributes of communication.
Since we seek to establish genuine relationships within the chaos of the digital world, it is necessary to prioritize face-to-face interactions more often. A digital indicator can reveal information about our relationships, but in most cases, they are inferior to direct interactions.
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