Since the inevitable turn of the 21st century, all technology available to us for the use of communicating has grown exponentially. Each passing year has seen these technologies develop further, leading to new and improved methods in which we can reach out to people across the room, street, state or the globe. Nevertheless, these advances in technology have impacted on the way that we communicate with each other. This paper will not only examine the development of technologies relating to communication, but also how such technological advances have negatively impacted on how we communicate with each other, specifically through the mediums of email, social media, and mobile phones; I will put forward the claim that communication has become a 'lost art'.

The Oxford Dictionary defines communication as ‘the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium
(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/communication)
The number and variety of devices that we use to communicate with each other has advanced significantly over the last 150 years. From the basic face-to-face communication and standard letter-writing, to the implementation of the telegraph and the basic land-line telephone
As we have progressed into the 21st century, the expansion of technologies we use to communicate with each other, such as mobile phones and wireless Internet, have come together to invent our socially-networked lives."

The art of communication is fast changing, however is it for the better? The quote that has (mistakenly) been attributed to Albert Einstein states “ I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction the world will have a generation of idiots.”
The advent and progress of email, social media and mobile phones have created a faster way of sending and receiving messages, at the possible detriment of the use of hand-written forms of communication or verbal, face-to-face interactions. The downside to this is the loss of emotion, expression and tone; emails feel cold and devoid of emotion, text messages impersonal and of a throwaway fashion. Whereas, on the other hand, the personal touch of a hand-written letter or a verbal, face-to-face conversation enables the ability to form strong bonds by listening to each other talk about our daily events and major milestones in our lives.

According to Booth, studies have shown that people actually are becoming more social and more interactive with others, but the style of that communication has changed so that we’re not meeting face-to-face as often as we used to. (Social Media and Interpersonal Communication. 2014. [ONLINE]) We are so reliant on the technology we have become used to for communication that it has intruded on the way we form relationships in addition being somewhat separated from reality of real life. This has resulted to our lacking of social skills when challenged with new face-to-face connections or writing hand written letters. Text speech such as LOL (laugh out loud) and OMG (oh my god) are also a major concern on how we communicate regarding the loss of the art of communication. It is having a negative impact on our spelling, grammar and how we talk in our every day conversations. Whether that is face to face or other means of technology. Not only are some of us not communicating properly by using text speech in our everyday face-to-face conversations. But we are relying on technology to correct our mistakes, and not learning from them. Anne Merritt (2013) says that children write more these days than they did 20 years ago, because of texting and social media. Most of that writing, however, is in text-speak, and that form of language becomes a bad habit. Students are now so used to writing in text-speak that they can’t easily remember (or apply) proper language rules.

We are becoming a society incapable of having human interactions outside of social media channels and mobile devices. The true meaning of friendship has lost its weight and relevancy with a few superficial clicks of “Add Friend” and “Like Status”. Unable to decipher non-verbal cues, carry on a dialogue, or participating in true human to human communication, is the social training presented by technology. Under the guise and promise of bringing people closer, once again technology has only served to drive us further apart. http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/inpsych/2010/december/social/ .
So, as you can see from my above arguments, although the human mind has allowed the expansion on how we communicate using modern technology, it does not mean that this same technology has allowed us to communicate any better than before. As indicated above, with all the negative effects of emails, mobile phones and social media, the consequences are that we spend a reduced amount of time talking to each other face to face, and have used all of these new developing technologies as a replacement to communicate for us. This means that the links connecting us are tenuous at best, as it is next to impossible to determine sincerity and truthfulness through the clinical texts appearing on our screens. In reality we rely on this technological advancement at a cost; we have abandoned the utmost significant means of communication, connecting, and forming bonds face to face, and our primary and basic methods of understanding. We have lost the art of communication.