I refer to the article 'Mercyhurst College's Student Union: A place for friendly conversations' published on Erie Times News, 29 May 2009.
This is a piece of writing which talks about the conducive environment that the student’s union in Mercyhurst College provides for its students to have another common place to have interaction and build interpersonal relationships with their peers, instead of spending all their time behind the computer at networking sites communicating with their friends. Students can eat together at the Union’s eating spots, or take part in different activities like watching movies; playing board games; watch movies or simply just interact with each other, building such good relationships till the point where they describe these relationships to be just “like a family”, where “there’s plenty of teasing, the relentless kind that only good friends can get away with”.
I personally feel that this is a very healthy environment where people can get to know more friends, and engage in face to face interaction, something networking sites like Facebook and Twitter just cannot provide. Online social networking can enhance interpersonal skills, but only to a small extent. Good old things like watching movies, and playing board games or having dinners together are still better done the traditional method by gathering people together. No matter how advanced technology can get, at this moment it is still impossible to fully replace the traditional and real face to face communication as through the wire, true emotions are lost. An everyday example can be seen from the abbreviation ‘lol’, which most commonly represents ‘laughing out loud’. It might have used to mean that the person behind the computer was literally laughing, but now it is more often than not used as just filler for a conversation that you can’t continue, or even to display hints of sarcasm at certain moments. At times, it might be impossible to tell the message that the other party is try to get across. In these cases, social networking can be rather insincere.
On the contrary, I think that when a small group of friends physically hang out together, they engage themselves in dyadic communication that places them in direct contact on topics that are more personal, and get to know each other more intimately. Such spontaneous and informal discussions are more real, allowing us to immediately tune our conversations according to forms of non-verbal cues like Paralinguistics and Oculesics of our partners. Back to the article, it is not difficult to notice the level of comfort between the friends as they “finish each other's sentences and pick food off each other's plates”. These are actions where people will not do unless they share a close relationship with each other.
It was also noted that “the discussion goes around the table, virtually nonstop, without a laptop, cell phone or text message in sight.” This proves that we don’t need the modern gadgets if we can have interpersonal communication with people face to face, as the latter is still the richest medium with better quality.
In conclusion, I feel that schools should set up similar student unions or programs to create more chances for students meet more friends, to lead the younger generation out of their virtual world back into reality.
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11 comments:
I would say that most people are more comfortable in writing than they are in articulating. This explains why some people would rather send an email than make a phone call, or sms rather than meet up.
However, I do not feel that modern technology has stifled human communication. Perhaps this is only true for some, but chatting online and through sms can actually make people feel more comfortable with expressing themselves, as they do not have to deal with several aspects with face-to-face interaction (body language, awkwardness etc).
That being said, this can also be the exact reason why there are so many problems concerning the internet. As people become more comfortable with their online personas, they tend to be even more comfortable revealing personal information about themselves--an ill-advised move on the World Wide Web.
Well it is easier to tell a lie in front of a computer than in front of a person. Even I regret to say that if there is one thing humans find very difficult to do, it is telling the absolute truth.
In a face to face conversation, everything from the pacing of the speech to the twitching of the eyebrow factors into the communication. If just one of those, be it your oculesics, paralinguistics or even you kinesics, do not match up to the message you are communicating, the receiver would sense something wrong. Basically it is easier to know if a person is lying or not in a face to face conversation.
Everyone can have their secrets, and everyone would want to protect those secrets.
It all comes down to how one uses such online networking. Yes it would benefit someone who is insecure about his self image to start by making friends online, gaining some self confidence and then making friends in real life. However, there is the threat of that person becoming so absorbed in his online life that his real life suffers.
As humans, we are meant to be social creatures. But if we were meant to be social through online networking, we would have evolved into creatures with no faces and only fingers and a brain. To communicate is not just to talk or to interact. It is to experience, and what better way to fully experience something than in person.
I believe that as human we indeed need people around us to be our friends or even social friends. But in real life it is hard to found good peopel around that can click wis us easily. Therefore indeed smaller classes and more interactive classes are good ideas to make students in school to interact with each others better. indeed it will somehow help to have more people that may help us in d future, when we need any help.
Well we do have student unions in schools including ours. However it is up to the individual to be part of these unions. I feel that teenagers nowadays, as a whole, seek a balance between virtual and real friendships. We do have real friends who we hang out and have good memories with. At the same time, we also have virtual friends whom we communicate regularly with. At times, most of our virtual friends are our real friends.
Another thing to note is the use of webcams in online communication. It might not be widely used or capable of replacing face to face communication . However, to a certain extent, it helps people communicate by knowing the other's non verbal cues, emotions and responding to them accordingly. Therefore, by using these methods, i feel that the virtual world can also exist concurrently with reality.
In relation to Parvin's point of webcam conversations, I have had my fair share of using the webcam to communicate. My brother is currently residing in Scotland and have been keeping in touch with the family by skype. The plus point to not only being free but my parents are able to see my brother on the screen. He even gave us a virtual tour of his house.
The thing that I always ponder about is why video calls have not caught on. Almost every one of us these days hold on to a phone that is capable of doing video calls and last i checked the rates are still the same for video or voice calls. hmmmm... why..
While offline experiences can allow you to have a more vibrant interaction, the conversation topics are rather limited. Online, there is the plethora of topics you can choose to converse with.
The lack of face to face interaction is compensated by the larger exchange of ideas. Hence, it should be up to the individual to choose, if he is seeking real laughter or just lol. Forcing one wouldn't have a desired outcome anyway.
In reply to mytake101, I feel that the main reason behind why the video call functions have not caught on is mainly due to some of the disadvantages brought about by video calls. if you were to hold a video call, you will have to position the cell phone such that the camera is facing you and a distance away from your face so that the other party can see you through the camera. In that case, you on this side will have to resort to shouting to your phone, and also put the call on speaker, meaning all those around you can hear exactly what is going on in the conversation. You might be able to do video calls at home, but imagine walking on the street talking to your phone which is an arms length away!
In this modern society, we are equipped with the latest communication gadgets, allowing us a variety of modes of comunication. One important thing that we should bear in mind is that we are given the power to choose. When required, we should choose the most appropriate method of communication, according to our focus, be it the larger exchange of ideas or the need for a face to face conversation.
"A Plethora of topics"? But whatever can be talked about online, can also be talked about in real life. If it is the more "uncomfortable" topics such as politics or radical views about society, I would not talk about them with my friends face to face or online, unless the topic comes up. I really do not see how only certain topics may be only suitable for online conversation or face to face conversation respectively.
Maybe while having highly confidential conversations, people might prefer to have a face to face talk rather than communicate online. I know people who do that, and one reason is because there is a higher chance what you say may be directly copied and pasted for another person by your receiver, word for word to another party whom you might not want the message to be told to. Or your receiver might keep a record of the online conversation to be used with some other motives. Not that it cannot happen in face to face conversations, but seems like the risks of that happening online seems much higher.
I do agree that online social networking pales in comparison to real life face-to-face interaction. Nevertheless, it is not without its credit or advantages. Like gamemaker, I do not feel that modern technology has stifled human interaction. Instead, I feel that it has enhanced interaction between people considerably. Just think about the convenience it brings! Although ideal, it is impossible for us to have face-to-face communication with our family members or peers in every second of our lives. Take mytake101’s case for example, where his/her brother is studying overseas. Face-to-face communication between the two siblings is out of the question, and this is where modern technology comes in. It offers an alternative in cases where face-to-face communication is impossible. Otherwise, communication could have ceased completely. It is a revolution that we should embrace and utilize wisely. Of course, I am not saying that modern technology should replace traditional face-to-face communication completely – that would be a very unhealthy thought. A mix of the two – traditional face-to-face communication coupled with modern technology – is by far, the best solution. Moderation is the keyword. ;)
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