This study examines face-to-face social ability in relation to a person’s amount of exposure to digital communication. By analyzing texts from experts, mainstream news and scholarly publications, this paper questions the effects of the virtual realm on the mind, both in children and in adults. The analysis aims to find the emotional contrast between digital and face-to-face interactions. The hypothesis suggests that digital outlets create a fast but low-quality resource for emotional interaction, which over time alters users’ approaches to connection outside of electronic means. Albeit emoticons and video chats have attempted to ease the lack of body-language expression provided on digital devices, experts argue that the abbreviated, virtual version of gestures cannot translate fully onto a screen, no matter how close to realism the portrays. The study focuses specifically on social media and cellphone text messaging as means of correspondence, delving both into adult and minor mindsets. Evidence suggests a behavioral shift of social interaction due to technology. Neurotransmitters in children exposed to technology have been shown to develop social abilities in different ways. People in general have tended to sway toward social media gratification on comparison to true, in person correspondence. In conclusion, popular opinion suggests that the shift toward virtual communication has changed how younger generations express themselves.
