Essay --

Introduction Sam wakes up, grabs her phone, unlocks it, checks her Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and then gets up and brushes her teeth, in that order. Whether one choses to acknowledge it or not, computer mediated communication (CMC), and more specifically, social networking websites and applications have become an integral part of ones daily routine. Millions of people across the globe have integrated Social Networking Sites (SNSs) into their everyday lives. Amongst those million, adolescents and young adults spend the most amount of time online communicating with their peers (Reich, Subrahmanyam, & Espinoza, 2012). Although many of the SNSs have unique networking functions to offer, generally they perform the same way in allowing individuals to: (1) connect with people they already share ties to, and (2) to make new connections based on shared interest or desired qualities (Reich, Subrahmanyam, & Espinoza, 2012). SNSs are a vastly growing apparatus, but there is still much to be learned about how and if these networks have a direct effect on how individuals communicate face-to-face (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Past and current CMC studies have studied interpersonal communication amongst college aged adults, and late adolescents. However, it is rare to find a study that gives mention to how CMC through SNSs impact FTFC in early adolescents and pre-teens. Understanding how SNS impact face-to-face communication amongst today’s preadolescents can help predict the future of communication. This paper examines existing literature on the use of computer- mediated-communication through social networks and its impact on face-to-face communication amongst adolescents, in hopes that it will identify limitations in past and current studies,... ...nclude the sample not being able to be generalizable to all users of CMC because the participants in the proposed study are preadolescents. The sample size is also too small for it to be generalizable for all preadolescents, and it only focusing in a school setting provides limitations as well. Another limitation that can be assumed is due to the fact that the data being collected is self reported; therefore everything collected must be taken at face value and can be flawed due to selective memory, telescoping, or exaggeration. If access to the schools or parental consent is denied, this could be a big limitation as well. The objective of the current proposed study was to gain insight into how CMC through SNSs affect FTFC in early adolescents. Hopefully researchers will see the value of this study and they will be inspired to conduct further research on the topic.