Shankar Krishnamurthy IE Essay-J

IE Business School (International MBA)

ByShankar Krishnamurthy

Question J: How do you imagine social interaction within 10 years, taking into consideration the impact of technology on human relations?

Social InteractionAn intrinsic need

Social interaction is an integral part of everyday life.

It takes us out of our comfort zone to meet people, adjust within the society, build new relationships, sustain old ones, and exchange thoughts and ideas for a better life and future.

Absence of regular interaction may result in an incomplete life with frustration, low self confidence and lack of awareness, exposure and visibility, thereby creating distance and differences in relationships.

Need for Social Interaction

Social Interaction vis-à-vis Human Life

Effective Social Interaction =

Positive Outlook and Healthy Relationships

Away from Social Interaction =

Isolated Life and Poor Relationships

The concept of “Socialising”A preview of distant past

To “Socialise”, was a very straightforward and simple concept about a decade ago.

With basic presence of technology and simple human relationships, people used to interact using landline telephone, basic mobile phones and internet (email) accounts, to decide upon a public place/venue to meet.

They spent a leisure and quality time chatting with each other at public parks, restaurants, and social functions and gatherings etc., and eventually returned back happy and contented.

“Socialising” – A Decade Ago

With the global communications technology being in a developing state, the scenario was even more difficult for people living far away from their families in a different city/country, to interact with their friends and loved ones back home.

The easiest and cheapest way for them to communicate was through landline phone or texting and voice calling with the basic mobile phones, and that too very occasionally and for limited duration, thus avoiding a hole in their pockets.

Due to restricted knowledge, and elementary presence of social networking, chatting, and sharing static photos over internet (email) accounts, were the most popular ways of being in touch.

“Socialising” – A Decade Ago

Impact of Technological Revolution

Social Interaction Redefined!

Technology has now become one of the key drivers in all aspects of social interaction.

The mobile phones, now very easily affordable, have been the most fundamental in changing the face of social interaction. Being an integral part of everyday life, the mobile phone technology has brought every thing at hand and completely changed the way people interact.

With the implementation of 3G technology in mobile communications, people can now interact even through video calls and stay connected with fast internet browsing, video streaming (You Tube) etc., using the most ordinary and affordable 3G enabled mobile phones.

Technology Driven Interaction

The technological breakthrough, with the introduction of a “Smartphone”, has further simplified the concept of ‘staying in touch’, reducing it to be just a click away.

People have very quick access to their list of contacts and can, apart from SMS, interact with them whenever they feel like, on the go, through the instant messaging applications like Google Talk, Yahoo! messenger, Windows Live messenger, BlackBerry messenger and WhatsApp messaging, using the in-built Wi-Fi or the internet connectivity provided by the network service provider.



A look at instant messaging using the WhatsApp Messenger on a Samsung smartphone!

At a time when smartphones have enabled people to stay constantly connected, they have also reduced social interaction by providing the in-built Navigation Maps to travellers searching for directions.

It has minimized the need for travellers to interact with people and ask for directions, instead making them self sufficient to use the Google Navigation Maps. (with the GPS technology).


Google Navigation Maps on a Samsung smartphone!

Apart from the mobile phone technology, the various communication applications and social networking websites on the internet, have had a huge and long-lasting influence on human relations, thereby giving a new high-tech perspective to social interaction.

The Gmail (Google email) chat and the Skype chat applications, using the internet, have provided people with a fast, easy and affordable combination of simultaneous audio, video and text interaction, with textual chat being not only one to one, but also with a group of people at the same time (using Group chat). The “Picasa Web Albums” by Google, has further simplified the sharing of photo albums and videos online.



Audio/Video/Text Chat between two people!

Group “Text” Chat between three people!

Gmail Chat!


Skype Chat!

Audio/Video/Text Chat between two people!

Now a rage among people, the social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, have created a whole new world of connectivity and social interaction on the internet.

With more than a billion registered users, Facebook allows people to:create their complete personal profile,share status updates, upload photos and view, like and

comment on the activities of friends, websites, groups and other people (including celebrities) to stay updated,

exchange text messages and make audio and video calls, join and interact on groups ranging from college and work to

movies, musical bands and festivals and,create and get associated with social causes and events to

participate and support them, to name a few.



Facebook Profile!


Facebook Messaging!

A Facebook ‘Social Event’ Page!

While Twitter allows to stay connected and regularly updated with a particular user or a public event or figure, through text messages (called tweets) by subscribing and following the person, LinkedIn provides professional connectivity by linking people to professional organizations for job related information and events.


Twitter Profile!

Technological RevolutionImpact on Human Relations!

At the same time when technology has helped people come virtually closer, by making them more readily connected, it has also blurred out the personal and emotional connect between them, thereby mechanizing their relationships.

The easy and ready exposure to different kinds of social media including TV, news media and social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, has enabled people to strongly bind with each other, and raise their voices against sensitive and serious issues like poverty, unemployment, child abuse and labour, suicide, terrorism, corruption, rape, domestic violence etc., which have been crippling our society since long ago.

Virtual Relations

The social media, has today brought people from all walks of life on a common platform, thus strongly bolstering them in their effort to bring about a much needed change.

The recent events of a collective fight against corruption and the global condemning of the highly atrocious crime of gang-rape of a 23-year old woman in a moving bus and her subsequent death, in India, were supported by huge and widespread public uproar and protests, connecting people through TV, news media, mobile phone messaging and social networking websites, thereby forcing the government authorities to make strong laws, and provide speedy justice by imparting severe punishments to the guilty.

Virtual Relations

However, these technological advances have had a major adverse impact on human relations.

With the presence of a highly flexible interaction through messaging, even people living closer to each other, now prefer to connect via Gmail, Skype chat, and other mobile phone messaging applications, mechanically, sitting at home instead of meeting each other personally to strengthen their bond.

As people now remain updated with the day-to-day happenings in the lives of others, through the social networking services of Facebook and Twitter, they prefer to express their so called ‘feelings and concerns’ electronically by ‘messaging, commenting or following’ each other on these websites.

Virtual Relations

With each passing day, technology is consistently making people lose their focus, resulting in their feelings becoming more phony.

The most basic human emotion of ‘Liking’ something when somebody actually likes it, has now come under a serious conflict with the ‘Like’ feature on Facebook.

Unfortunately, the 3000+ ‘likes’ on the shared news of the recent death of Indian sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, on Facebook, puts forth a key moral question that whether people are seriously concerned about such events or are just bothered about their capacity to stay ‘tuned’.

Virtual Relations

While the social networking services allow people to stay connected and united against social issues and crimes, they can sometimes be completely misleading for some people, resulting in an increased occurrence of such events.

The recent incident of gang-rape of a 17 year old girl in Delhi, has been found to have its roots in Facebook. The lack of proof regarding the credibility and authenticity of people on Facebook, misled the girl to befriend the two unknown men, only to eventually become an easy prey for the culprits.

Virtual Relations

Also, the increasing randomness of the personal content people now share on Facebook and Twitter, has a high chance of leading them to a moral complication, thus resulting in a strict legal action. The casual comments posted on the shared news of the death of an influential political leader, Shri Balasaheb Thackeray, of Mumbai (India), by two young girls on Facebook, resulted in their detainment and arrest by the police.

Virtual Relations

According to the existing scenario, the technological advancements in the future, will further influence social interaction, thereby massively plasticizing human emotions and relations even more.

Social Interaction and

Human RelationsAn imaginary perspectiveof the future!

With rapid technological developments in the field of communications, social interaction within the next decade, could become completely managed by technology, thus resulting in a perennial impact on human relations.

There could be stupendous improvements in the messaging and social networking services. Although the Gmail and Skype chat, WhatsApp messenger, Facebook and Twitter services, could persist for at least four-five more years, there could be a huge upgrade to the technology they provide, connecting people in absolutely no time and bringing them virtually more close, further simplifying social interaction.

“Technological Interaction”: Social Interaction within the next

decade

The mobile phones might get equipped with a technology that could automatically decide upon the person to call, time to initiate the call or the message to be sent by choosing the quickest way of communication, through SMS or any other instant messenger, all with the click of a button, thus adding an all-new experience to social interaction.

The updated technology used by Google Maps might completely eliminate the need for even the minimum amount of social interaction needed to find directions, by automatically producing a sound when tracing a wrong path and correcting the same by providing regular voice instructions, also computing the destination from a record of previously traced paths.

“Technological Interaction”: Social Interaction within the next decade

People might be able to start an audio and video chat with multiple participants, just by speaking their name, under separate conversation windows at the same time by switching calls, using the upgraded Gmail, Skype chat and Facebook chat applications or any other new chat clients that might get developed with the technology.

The social networking services provided by Facebook or any other new social networking website, might allow live video streaming of all current key issues involving social causes on groups and pages, thus enabling people to raise their voices through audio and video, anytime while interacting live with the member participants present real-time at the event venue.


There might be a completely new development in the need of social assistance in case of a security or medical emergency.

Without the need to raise alarms or use mobile phones to call for help, there might be a high-tech security and safety device with first-aid support and electronic transmitters, which the people might use when travelling alone late at night or at lonely places, that would transmit signals automatically on the sense of even the slightest of emergency, to the most nearby safety receivers, which in-turn would communicate it to the nearest security station or medical aid centre accordingly, thus providing prompt action in absolutely no time.


Although these drastic improvements in communications technology within the next decade would simplify social interaction by connecting people more swiftly, it would also significantly affect their genuine personal connect, thus creating more divide and gaps in human relationships.

If used meticulously and in an appropriate manner, these technological advancements might serve as a valuable asset in achieving the desired goal of positive social impact in the future. On the contrary, they might as well have the most deleterious impact, not only giving an exponential rise to social problems, but also creating a state of complete turmoil in human relations, eventually causing an irreversible damage to the social lives of people.

“Virtualized Relationships”: Human Relations within the next decade

End of Presentation!

Shankar Krishnamurthy IE Essay-J

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