Interpersonal Communication Concept Paper
Introduction
Communication is a vital element in human life. The interconnected lives that people have calls for interpersonal communication, which impacts the mutual relationships of people. An interpersonal relationship is imperative in personal, academic, civil and business contexts. Therefore, enhancing interpersonal communication is critical to improving relationships, improving the physical and psychological wellbeing of people and success in life. Issues of conflict occur wherever there is an interpersonal relationship. It is the role of interpersonal communication that provides adequate remedies in achieving conflict resolution and preserving relationships. The Social Network 2010 film addresses critical elements of interpersonal relationships based on friendships, trust, emotions, and other communications concepts.
Interpersonal Communication Concept
Interpersonal communication portends implicit and explicit individual behaviour in their interactions. It is a communication concept that explains exchanging ideas, shared beliefs and emotional experiences. The fundamental characteristic of interpersonal communication is shaping positive and quality relationships (Tranca and Neagoe p.70). The Social Networks 2010 exemplifies principles of interpersonal communications based on events and episodes of life. The film defines different roles that men and women play in determining the success of life. The director utilizes the lens of a young inventor Mark Zuckerberg to present the revolutionary dimensions in social mass communication. Interpersonal communication reflects the tenets of social information processing theory. While interpersonal communication mediated in digital platforms does not allow people to engage fully in nonverbal systems, it is a critical pathway for enhancing sustainable communication (Candrasari p.539). For this reason, The Social Network explores ways human beings have evolved in ancient times to capture the importance of interpersonal communications.
Interpersonal communication is a replica of human life. The film showcase concepts of interpersonal relationships. Web technologies have shaped ways communication has gained a timeless and spaceless specification (Eginli and Tas p.82). People can interact seamlessly and continuously because of social media networks. In this case, the film depicts the ability of social media to provide people with the opportunity to sustain their social relations based on the structure of society. The film reveals a critical interpersonal communication concept of relationship development. Today, communities exist on social media that allow people to move away from the traditional space and embrace technology-driven relationships. The poststructuralism concept is a definitive framework for understanding technological development. Therefore, social media applications such as Facebook has shaped communication and semiotics in the contemporary digital world.
Theoretical Models of Interpersonal Communication in the Film
Information processing theory portends how computer-mediated communication is rich in nonverbal cues. As people type messages on the computer, they epitomize the use of non-verbal and interpersonal communications. The outcome of such communication is a sustained ability to form impressions and build relationships. Thus, interpersonal communication is critical in adapting to the social space by using verbal and nonverbal cues. (Candrasari p.540). All these maximize temporal cues to convey relational messages and social information. The Social Network shows that Facebook and social media have limited people’s abilities to sustain personal and mass communication. The impact that this has on society is the reduced tendency to engage in rich, natural and human relationships that manifest a sense of warmth and belonging. Therefore, The Social Network presents Facebook as an enterprise for a cosmic cultural shift.
The Social Network film adopts the ideological perspective of communication to explore the world of loneliness. It affirms the human instinct that relationship is critical in every form of life. The director portrays a paradox in a story on the poster indicating that “you don’t get 500 million friends without making a few enemies” (Fincher, film Dir, n.p). Thus, the film illustrates that while a person can make 500 million friends, failure to embrace meaningful relations through interpersonal communication can be lonely. Echterhoff and Schmalbach reinforce the concept of interpersonal communication by indicating that human relations involve parties that jointly adjust, negotiate and confirm the position of their relationships (p.57). Thus, there is a shared reality in interpersonal communication. It involves people sharing different aspects of their emotional, psychological and physical selves.
Communication is about the relationship. The concept of interaction patterns presumes the degree of predictability of how interpersonal communication events emerge (Sillars and Vangelisti p.333). People can engage in coherent conversation because they appreciate their unspoken positions, rules and association. The film indicates that interaction is critical in human life and allows people to share their social, emotional and physical awareness in their social context. Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) is evident in the film where people must begin a relationship, face conflicts and maintain them through interpersonal relationships. The uncertainty that relations create leads to the knowledge and understanding that communication is the primary avenue to reduce uncertainties in relationships.
From the paradox of face-alienation, the film portends how social media communication embraces the principles of Uncertainty Reduction Theory through social acceptance. Quality interpersonal relationships revolve around minimizing distance a. Utilizing personal conversations, informal problem-solving methods and value convergence are fundamental principles of communication (Tranca and Neagoe p.72). The film presents an inventor who is desperately waiting for his girlfriend. He wants to tell her the truth about accepting him. Thus, the mode of alienation that emerge in the film resonates with conflict and conflict resolution mechanisms. Social media communication has emerged as a communication simulation that allows users to avoid realities behind the computers. However, they can only embrace the tenets of relationships and social interactions to realize the fulfilment of interpersonal relationships.
The film establishes the challenges of social media and computer d mediated communication in reinforcing antisocial behaviour. Postmodernism highlights the reducing sense of intimacy and emphasizes instant gratification. People choose social media to communicate with their friends and achieve particular interests such as acquiring information, having fun and generally feeling satisfied. The controlling and determinative sense of medium is personal. The basis of the experience is process and content gratification (Eginli and Tas p.88). Today, someone can have hundreds of friends that they have not met. Although this refutes the claims of interpersonal relationships, theorists emphasize that people maintain their genuine relationships with the people they interact with. The film’s storyline indicates how people focus on the effectiveness of their status updates, interact, and develop an emotional bond with others. The movie signifies the importance of interpersonal communication by underscoring how social media has prevented people from forming emotional bonds, interactions and nurturing interpersonal relationships.
Conclusion
The Social Network film depicts interpersonal communication in the digitalized world. Interpersonal communication plays a critical role in how people interact. Irrespective of the changing dimensions of technology, it is imperative to embrace social relations, address conflicts that emerge and maintain methods of sharing realities. The concepts of interpersonal relations are critical in achieving social relationships. Computer-mediated communication is not devoid of emotional and interpersonal understanding. Therefore, the film epitomizes the theoretical model of interpersonal communication. It addresses the need for intercultural sensitivity, feedbacks and a communication approach that enhances the ability of individuals to relate in timeless and spaceless contexts.
Work Cited
Candrasari, Yuli. “Mediated interpersonal communication: A new way of social interaction in the Digital Age.” Proceedings of the 2nd International Media Conference. 2019.
Echterhoff, G., & Schmalbach, B. (2018). How shared reality is created in interpersonal communication. Current opinion in psychology, 23, 57-61.
Eginli, Aysen Temel, and Neslihan Ozmelek Tas. “Interpersonal communication in social networking sites: An investigation in the framework of uses and gratification theory.” Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies 8.2 (2018): 81-104.
The Social Network. Directed by David Fincher, 2010
Tranca, Loredana Marcela, and Neagoe Alexandru. “The importance of positive language for the quality of interpersonal relationships.” Agora Psycho-Pragmatica 12.1 (2018): 69-77.
Vangelisti, Anita L., and Daniel Perlman, eds. The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships. Cambridge University Press, 2018.