Do online social networks affect personal connections? - Fox 2 News Headlines

Do online social networks affect personal connections?

Apps and social networks have become part of our daily jargon and a part of many people's everyday lives.

Their goal: to connect us with one another, but what about actually communicating with one another?

"They interfere with interpersonal, with one on one and they live social trusting understand relationship that we all strive to have with another person," says psychiatrist Howard Belkin. He believes technology is killing our interpersonal skills.

But the Pew Research Center actually did a study asking: Does social media cause social isolation?

The results found that social media users do not have more or fewer friends. And in fact, Facebook users had more close friends.

Still, it's hard to believe that it's not impacting our face to face skills.

"The ability to look someone in the eye, the ability to read someone's body language, and to carry on a full intimate relationship with someone on a one on one basis," Dr. Belkin says. "It's how we create relationships, it's how we meet our mate, it's how we teach our children and other people how to become loving human beings."

So while the latest research might show that all of our screen time isn't having any real negative effect, putting down the phone or shutting down the computer every now and then can't hurt.