Effects of Technological Advancements in Communication to Interpersonal Relationships: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

This study sought to determine the effects of technological advancements in communication to the social degradation of interpersonal relationships of students in the University of the Philippines Manila campus. Specifically, the research aimed to find out the use of technological advancements in communication in interacting with others. It sought to examine how they interact through the use of these inventions/gadgets and their frequency usage. Lastly, the study aimed to evaluate the level of relationships the students have with one another. It is hypothesized that these technological advancements in communication have a negative effect on the social degradation of interpersonal relationships because of the emergence of this societal problem. This could be deduced from the following: first, technological advancements in communication serve as the modem communication tools for the people in interacting in their interpersonal relationships; second, they interact through the multiple functions ofthese technological advancements whenever applicable; third, the continuous increase in usage of these technological gadgets tend to replace face to face interaction with other people as they tend to use these gadgets as often as possible; and fourth, the level of relationships the students have with one another is debasing. The study adopted a descriptive research design as the guiding approach in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data on Communications Technology Social Degradation. The Survey Method and interview were the main procedures used in collecting data. Specifically, a questionnaire was constructed for gathering the necessary data to measure the degree of interpersonal relationships of tine UPM CAS students with the widespread of communications technological advancements. The interviews were conducted to determine the link and relationship between the technological advancements and social degradation of interpersonal relationships. The interviewees are knowledgeable in the field. The approximated respondents of the survey were five hundred and seventy-six (576) CAS undergraduate students officially enrolled in the University of the Philippines Manila College of Arts and Sciences for the second semester of Academic Year 2003- 2004. There are approximately 1720 students in UPM CAS, and 576 are 33.49% of the total population, permissible enough to make reasonable generalizations. The students were presumed to have incorporated themselves with the college culture, especially UP culture, making them susceptible to the various technological advancements in communication available to their age bracket today. Both males and females were selected regardless of their respective degree programs. Samples were chosen using (convenient) stratified random probability sampling. Since the objective of this study is to determine the effects of technological advancements in communication to the social degradation of interpersonal analysis, descriptive statistics is employed. Descriptive statistics is used to describe the qualities and characteristics of the sample population in relation to the topic. Frequency distribution and the corresponding graphs were utilized. In the study, the relation between the technological advancements and interpersonal relationships of UPM CAS students were analyzed with the help of the third section of the questionnaire and the interviews. The third part of the questionnaire is in the form of the Likert scale. For this purpose, the researcher constructed an analysis scale to further describe the level of effects of technological advancements to social degradation of interpersonal relationships. The results showed the high frequency of the respondents’ usage of technological advancements resulting to them being prone to their interpersonal relationships’ social degradation. It has been seen that UPM CAS students relate with their family the most, then to their block mates and other friends. They mostly communicate with them with technological advancements, more specifically the mobile phone. This frequent usage of technological advancements, as said in the interview, helps in the social degradation of interpersonal relationships. Hence, technological advancements in communication negatively affect the social degradation of interpersonal communication. It is concluded that social degradation is made worsen off by these technological advancements. For future purposes, the study on the Effects of Technological Advancements in Communication to Interpersonal Relationships can be better improved if a more reliable assessment tool will be used to measure the effects, taking into consideration more technological advancements, not only Internet use and mobile phones. Also, a cross- cultural study that would include not only UPM CAS students but also other colleges and moreover, include High School students because they, too, belong to the target market of these technological advancements in communication. Lastly, a more in-depth study on the topic in the Philippine setting since there has been little study made on this topic and it is relevant that case studies be done especially because the Philippines has been avid patrons of such advancements.