Within the last ten years, big improvements have been made in the IT world. Since the first iPhone, the birth of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other social networks or texting apps, a new form of social interaction has risen up. We do not communicate the way our parents do, so maybe we have lost an important amount of social skills. Do we really have to worry about it?

According to some research studies, young people have lost the ability or find difficulties in starting a conversation with a stranger in a wide variety of social situations. Small talk is nowadays a rare bird, and will be soon a thing of the past. We can spot here and there all sorts of absorbed youngsters at any given moment of the day, handling a smartphone, with their headphones on and staring at a small screen while texting, without a care in the world about the life around them. 

This kind behavior is not only time consuming or disturbing for the people around them, but it can also be dangerous for themselves or other people if it is performed while crossing a street or driving. Walking on the streets while texting or having their headphones on has been banned or restricted in some cities in the USA. Furthermore, most developed countries in the world fine drivers that make use of their phones while driving.

Also, social networking and flirting apps make us have an aseptic and distant vision of the people at the other end of the screen, distorting reality, seeing them as disposable products or goods that we can consume and eventually get rid of, making relationships vain and superficial, creating a dangerous loop of emptiness and dissatisfaction.

Thus, we all have to be aware of the problems that we face with regards to new technologies. We must have the abilities to use them properly and make an effort to communicate with other people face to face, to strengthen our bonds and avoid being ostracized.