Internet-based Communication vs Direct Communication

On Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, social life belongs on the middle of the pyramid. It means that it's essential, and it's supported by the theory that human is a social creature, it influences our mental and physical health. Two most common forms of social interaction are face-to-face communication and internet-based communication. Which one is better?

In the pre-telephone era, we practiced direct contact communication. We would visit our friends or family to have our social life's going. Today's social life has been revolutionized. In this disruptive era, where everything connected to the internet, our social life's proceeding is evolving. The need to socialize become more comfortable, now we have this thing called social media. But is it better than face-to-face communication? 

Social media is easy, but it comes with consequences compared to direct contact of communication. It's true that in this era we can know our relative's news in an instant click. Our family who lives a hundred miles from us is one click away. A statistic that I've been gathered from Facebook statistics says that more than 700 billion minutes are spent on Facebook by its users. With those amount of time we overwhelmed ourselves with social life, it becomes too much. It's true about a quote that says social media is taking the far one closer, and making the closest one far. The communication that made with social media become less meaningful, and we tend to ignore what lies in front of us. When we're hanging out, let's be honest –  we busy with our mobile phones. On the other hand, face-to-face communication has benefits that social media can't obtain. We use our senses, when we communicate eye-to-eye, we use gestures, intonation, looks, smiles, touches as well as words.  It is all read by interlocutor and built the general impression, but there is no such possibility in the social media. 

In conclusion, I am not saying that people should avoid social media completely, but people need to be aware of the cons of it. People need to be mindful of how they are using social media as well as the others around them. In your opinion, which one is better? Social Media? or Direct communication.