THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN BUILDING SOCIAL CLOSENESS

An Nisa Ayu Jayati1, Amika Wardana2, Inggit Rachmarani3

1
Student at Social Science Education of Graduate School Yogyakarta State University,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
2
Faculty of Science Education of Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
3
Student at Social Science Education of Graduate School Yogyakarta State University,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
An Nisa Ayu Jayati, Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan, Meranti 21264, Asahan-Sumatera Utara
annisaayujayati08@gmail.com

Abstract. This article discusses the role of communication in building social

closeness. Social closeness is needed both in the social and educational spheres.
As social beings, communication is needed to create harmonious relationships.
Communication is the sending and receiving of messages or news between two or
more people so that the message in question can be understood. Communication
can take place verbally or nonverbally. This article will explain the nature of
communication, factors that support smooth communication, elements of
communication, communication goals and other things that can build social
closeness in the family, educational environment and society. The creation of
social closeness will show a person's psychological state and emotional level in
interacting. This article is written using literature that can be used as a reference
in writing.
Keyword: Communication, Social Closeness
INTRODUCTION
Humans are social creatures so they cannot be separated from communication.
Communication is a part of human life. As social beings, humans always live together with other
people and need each other. This will create direct or indirect contact such as communication.
Communication is the most important means of life, both in the family, educational institutions
and in the community. With communication there will be an interaction between two or more
people. Argiris (1994) in Nurrohim (2009: 2) defines communication as a process in which a
person, group, or organization (sender) sends information (massage) to another person, group or
organization (receiver).
Someone who often communicates (the importance of communication) will easily speak
wherever they are because communicating frequently will increase vocabulary so they will easily
speak even in front of a crowd. Someone who often communicates with other people will know
more about their opponent in communicating. Interpersonal communication that is often carried
out will cause closeness between the interlocutors. Interpersonal communication is a special
form of human communication that occurs when we interact simultaneously, meaning that
communication actors have the same action on information at the same time (Pontoh, 2013: 2).
 The first time each individual communicates is in the family. Communication between
parents and children and other families is a major factor in determining how individuals
communicate outside of the family environment. Communication at home or with family is very
important to increase harmony in the family, both between parents and children and with other
relatives. The communication that occurs in the family greatly influences the emotional
development of children and adolescents who are in the process of searching for identity.
Communication between parents and children, kana familiarizes children to communicate well
wherever they are, such as at school, society and with their peers. Minarni (2017: 304) says that
the relationship with the family is an important thing that can help the development of a child's
moral understanding, if in the interaction the parents invite the child to have a dialogue and
discuss moral values.
In an educational environment, communication is also needed so that learning activities
can run effectively. Communication between teachers and students is a major factor in learning
activities. Teacher and student communication in learning will show the level of closeness
between teachers and students in learning, besides that it also shows the level of understanding of
the teaching and learning activities carried out. Apart from communicating with the teacher,
students also communicate with their peers.
Interpersonal communication with peers will show self-openness. This often occurs in
communication with peers. Communication with peers is more open because they are both in the
same phase. Apart from communication with peers, communication between children and
parents or family is an important factor in determining how we communicate with others in the
community and at school as a place to study. The community, as an environment in
communicating, is very vulnerable to conflict. So that parents and families have a very important
role in providing guidance to their children so that they have ethics in communicating in society.
Someone who has ethics in communication will have an impression so that it can increase social
closeness because of the convenience in communicating.
RESEARCH METHODS
This research used a literature study. A literature study was conducted using data which
was a review of various references in accordance with the research objectives to find appropriate
theories as a reference in the discussion of research results.

COMMUNICATION
Definition, Factors, and Communication Objectives
In everyday life, humans always communicate as an interaction in carrying out various
activities. Communication comes from the word communicare which means to participate and
tell. Communication as a tool to help humans convey and receive information. According to
Edward Depari (Widjaja 2000: 13) states that communication is the delivery of ideas, hopes and
messages conveyed through certain symbols, hanging meaning, carried out by the messenger
addressed to the recipient of the message with the aim of reaching togetherness (commons). One
of the communication processes basically has the goal that all communication participants
perceive the same meaning of the messages exchanged (Mardhiyani, 2014).
Communicating straightforwardly and smoothly is influenced by factors so that
individuals can communicate smoothly. There are several factors that can affect a person's
fluency in communicating, namely (1) Factor knowledge, the more knowledge a person has, the
more vocabulary they have so that it makes it easier to communicate fluently (2) Experience
factors, the more experiences a person has causing accustomed to it. face something (3)
Intelligence factors, which are usually owned by low intelligence, making it easier to
communicate smoothly (4) Personality factors, people who are shy and less sociable, usually
speak less fluently than people who are good at socializing (5) Biological factors, among others,
it is caused by disturbance of people speaking, causing disturbances in communication (Warsita,
2008: 99).
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is a form of human communication that occurs when we
interact simultaneously with other people and mutually influence each other, simultaneous
interaction means that the actors of communication have the same action on information at the
same time (Pontoh, 2013: 3). There are many purposes of interpersonal communication, namely
(1) Expressing concern for others. One of the goals of interpersonal communication is to get
various information from other people. (2) Self-discovery, meaning that a person performs
interpersonal communication because he wants to know and recognize personal characteristics
based on information from others. (3) Discovering the outside world, with interpersonal
communication, you get the opportunity to get various information from others, including
important and actual information (4) Build and maintain harmonious relationships, as social
beings, one of the greatest needs of everyone is to form and maintain good relations with other
people (5) Affecting attitudes and behavior, interpersonal communication is the process of
delivering a message by someone to another to inform or change attitudes, opinions, or behavior
either directly or indirectly (by using the media) (6) Looking for fun or just spending time, there
are times when someone does interpersonal communication just looking for fun or entertainment
(7) Eliminates losses due to miscommunication, interpersonal communication can eliminate
losses due to miscommunication and misinterpretation that occurs between sources and message
recipients (8) Providing assistance (counseling), psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and
therapists using interpersonal communication in their professional activities to direct their
clients.
Suranto AW (2011: 2) said that the more often someone interacts with other people, the
communication will also increase, and vice versa. Individuals who frequently communicate will
improve their skills in communication, thus they will easily get closer to other people.
Parent and Child Communication
Family is the first environment that each individual encounters. The family is the center
in life, played by parents in guiding and caring for children so that they become the individuals
that parents expect. To form a child's personality, communication between parents and children
is needed. This level of communication plays a role in children's social life, both at school, with
peers and in the community. There is a role of parents in communication, where parents share
experiences with adolescents and parents consider their children as friends (Sudarsana, 2018).
In the family, they must talk about things that happen to each individual, communication that
is established is communication that can provide something that can be given to every other
family member (Prasanti, 2016). Gunawan (2013: 219) states that there are two communication
functions in the family, namely social and cultural functions.
 1. The function of communication as social communication at least implies that
communication is important for building self-concept, self-actualization, to gain
happiness, to avoid pressure and tension.
2. The function of cultural communication, sociologists argue that communication and
culture have a reciprocal relationship (Gunawan, 2013: 219).
This communication function will find the identity of each individual, learn to make
decisions about what to do, because by communicating with parents, children will understand
what to do for their own lives. According to Kumar (Wijaya: 1987) the characteristics of
communication in the family, namely (a) Openness is the extent to which individuals have the
desire to be open to other people in interacting. The openness that occurs in communication
allows the behavior to respond and the feelings it expresses (b) Empathy (empaty) is an
individual feeling that feels the same as other people, without having to be actually involved in
the person's feelings or responses. (c) Support (Support) the existence of support can help
someone more enthusiastic in carrying out activities and achieving the desired goals. This
support is expected from the closest person, namely the family (d) Positive Feelings
(Positiveness), which is where the individual has positive feelings towards what others have said
to him (e) Equality, this means that individuals have similarities with others in terms of speaking
and listening (Prasanti, 2016: 77).
Parent-child communication also plays an important role in children's emotional
development. So that in communicating with children, parents must use good communication
patterns, so that children do not misunderstand in digesting the guidance provided by parents.
Setyowati (2005: 76) says that a good pattern of communication between parents and children
builds closeness between parents and children. The effect of implementing family
communication patterns on children's emotional development will be positive if in the family
there is a democratic communication culture characterized by the existence of rules and freedom
so that every child will know that every action has consequences.
Communication In Education
Education is communication in the sense that there are two components consisting of
human teachers as communicators and students as communicants (Inah, 2013: 180).
Communication has a very important role in education including (1) the function of supervision,
this function is in the form of warning and control as well as persuasive activities, supervision
and control can be done for prevensive activities to prevent unwanted things (2) social learning
function, is conducting guilding and social education to all people, this function provides
enlightenment to the community where communication at that time took place (3) the function of
delivering information, is the process of delivering information to the wider community (Inah,
2013: 183)
In teaching and learning activities, it will run effectively if there is feedback between
teachers and students. In this case the teacher has a role to communicate to students as a test of
student understanding of ongoing learning. To improve the success of carrying out their duties in
the implementation of learning and learning, apart from other competencies (pedagogic
competence, personal competence, and professional competence), teachers must have social
competence (communication), because communication is the main means of learning and
learning (Khoiruddin, 2012: 129 ). As educators, teachers have a dual and very strategic role in
relation to student needs. The role in question is (1) the teacher as a teacher, that is, the main job
of the teacher is to teach and educate students, who strive so that all students are able to master
the knowledge and technology that is taught properly (2) the teacher as parents, a place to pour
out all student feelings, a place where students complain when they experience disturbances. The
role of teachers as parents is carried out in a school environment which is more of an emotional
relationship and equalizing the feelings of teachers and students (3) teachers as peers, as partners
for various experiences and arguing in informal discussions (Inah, 2015: 153). Theoretically,
when a student performs intraccommunication, a process occurs which consists of three stages,
namely Perception, Ideation and Transmission (Inah, 2013: 181).
Communication With Peers
Communication with peers is the communication most often carried out by every
individual, both children, adolescents and adults. This communication occurs because
individuals are in the same phase, communicating more openly to pour out something that is
disturbing the mind, to solve the problem at hand. Communication with peers will create a
comfort in itself so that individuals feel the need for each other.
Devito (2011: 65-67) argues that there are several factors that influence self-disclosure,
including the effect of girls, group size, topic, valeni, gender, recipient relationships and
personality. Diadik effect, the individual will open himself if the person with him also opens
himself up. This is because a child's education makes a person feel safe and can strengthen
someone to open up. Large groups, self-disclosure is considered more effective when in a small
group situation than a large group, because in small groups the interaction of group members is
easier and faster to get responses or feedback from others. Topic, individuals tend to be open
about information about hobbies or work rather than about economic conditions and family life.
Generally, topics that are private in nature and lack of good information will make individuals
less likely to open up. Gender or Gender, self-disclosure tends to be owned by women than men.
Women prefer to share information about themselves or others quickly. On the other hand, men
prefer to be quiet or keep their problems hidden by themselves rather than telling others.
Competence, competence is considered successful if a person understands well what is being
informed, both positive and negative because it is very decisive in subsequent developments.
Recipient of the relationship, self-openness is considered successful if a person understands well
what is being informed, both positive and negative because it is very decisive in subsequent
developments. Personality, individuals with extovert personalities and comfortable in
communication do more openness than individuals with introverted personalities and are less
courageous in speaking.
Based on these factors, communication with peers is a necessity for every individual.
Trust in communicating with peers will create openness. Communicating with peers has a more
comfortable level so that communication becomes more open. Bimo Walgito (2013: 35),
communication and interaction are closely related, both of which are mutually influencing. This
raises interest between friends to communicate.
CONCLUSION
Parents or family are the main environment in communicating. Parents have an important
role in communicating to make their relationship closer to their children. The communication
carried out in the family affects the social environment such as character and morals.
Communication in the family can shape children's emotional decisions.
 School is the realm of education. Education is communication. Apart from being an
educator, teachers must also be able to be good communicators as a strategy to attract students'
closeness, so that teaching and learning activities take place effectively.
Peers have a role in communication. Each individual has a sense of comfort when
communicating with peers, this is influenced by the same experience, so that there is openness in
communicating because of a sense of comfort and mutual trust.
THANK YOU NOTE
As a writer I thank you for help colleagues through brainstorming, obtained through
discussion The contributions of peers and other figures whose thoughts are referred to in this
article can certainly enrich the insights expressed. My gratitude also goes to readers who provide
suggestions for improvement.
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