COMMUNICATE! as my blog heading says.
What does communication means to you?
When we need to start a blog for this module, most of my classmates already had an exisiting blog. Well, I don't remember that I had a blog~ (: because I don't communicate using LINEAR means. (: which means I seldom blog even though i use to have a blog, I seldom chat on MSN even though I have a MSN account. I reject or neglect invitations on facebook. But that doesn't mean that I dun communicate~ (:
When I was young i go for what is cool~ (meaning IRC, ICQ, MSN, Friendster, Facebook). Now i realize that i don't really have time for that, (studies, friends, volunteer work.................) all those are taking all of my times and i reach home so late that when i go online no one will be there to COMMUNICATE with me. LOL~
Don't be frighten by my blog address (you-better-comment). It doesn't post any threat that all who visit must comment. (: I just thought of this blog address since comments are used to graded us (COM101 students). (: hoping people will drop by.
communicating is part of our life every day. when we go to school, we talk to our friends, that is communicating. but it doesn't means we talk to everyone we see. because there are times our first impression of someone tells us that he/she is not "your kind". Then we step back from them and try to avoid talking to them just because we know they won't "make our day".
I come from a globalized volunteer work organization. Communicating with my friends worldwide is very different from communicating from friends in Singapore. When it is my day time, it could be their night time. When I am so used to typing English in online chatrooms, they are typing traditional chinese. But that didn't stop us from being friends. We try to put in effort to meet each other online and chat for an hour or so. We meet up each other once a year in Taiwan and we are still so close.
Communicating can do wonders. It can change our mindset and make us feel good.
My volunteer work has a TV channel in taiwan. Yup!~ It started as a small and humble TV station where no one view it(even though it is free). As technology started to improvised, our TV channel gained popularity. It has drama, just like all TV channels has, but their drama are real life experiences of people. They were norminated for awards and won a few. The dramas are not made up stories and some people who watch it, felt that it is a good influence for all ages. Everyone can watch the show, no age limit.
Of course they also have news. One thing different from theirs news and other tv channel news in taiwan is that they don't report things that are nonsensical (you know? taiwan news are so stupid~ it is like relationship between in-laws are reported). Their news bring peace and knowledge to pubic(meaningful and useful).
As the technology advanced and there are more volunteer worldwide, putting the channel on TV wasn't enough. Worldwide volunteers wants to view it and wants to know what is the latest show on the channel. So, it is now on the internet as well. (: (if you all wants the website to see how different it is, can get it from me. (: )
Technology improved the way we can communicate. From linear to transactional.
because of how it has improvised, we can communicate to friends and relative from all over the world. I can feel it as my brother is workin in Japan now. The easiest way to communicate is to go on msn or Skype. Skype is like a 3G handphone, FREE!
But I always have a doubt. Did this improvised technology make us more lazy? When I was young and got no handphone, I can memorize my friend's number. I make an effort to call them and tell them a message directly so that miscommunication won't occur. (: But because of how we abuse this improvision, we became very lazy and didn't care about whether the other party get our message correctly. If the objective of communication is to get the message correctly to the other party, then is there a loophole? Because sms-ing someone doesn't contain our tone, using msn to chat also doesn't contain our tone as well. Only voice and face-to-face communication is the most true communication. Even though miscommunication can also occur, but the chances are lower. (might be a person's communication skills or socializing skill).
what are your views about this then?
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Hmm. Theres always the pros and cons.
ReplyDeleteI guess we are too dependent on those technologies. Grab anyone on the street and ask, Im sure he cant leave the house without his handphone/mp3. I myself am guilty of this too. :))
But handphones became PART of our life - to be exact, an essential. Cause it is the medium for our communication in the modern life. Imagine yourself not being able to hear/get news of your loved ones with the fast way. I will definitely be worried.
Maybe we have to learn to be more expressive. Getting the right message across is the sender's responsibility. But then again, it takes two hands to clap. The receiver has to be responsive too.
To me, there bound to be miscommunications in any sort of communication. It is really up to us to get things right. And I do agree face-to-face is the one closer to reality.
Hmmm... Firstly, I have to say that I admire how you are able to keep in touch with your friends who're overseas. I used to think that it wouldn't be difficult to keep in touch with friends, no matter the physical distance, however I learnt that this isn't always the case. Anyway moving on...
ReplyDeleteI agree that technological advances have, to a certain extent, helped improved the way humans communicate. However, there is always a downside to things. Like you say, there is a much higher risk of miscommunication, when we use non face-to-face methods of delivery e.g. SMS, MSN. Also, some people who live under the same roof find it difficult to walk over to another part of the house, to deliver a message, and they would rather do so with a phone call/MSN/SMS (I AM GUILTY OF THIS TOO). I feel that advances in technology have helped us with speed of delivery, but by doing so, quality is compromised. The 'human touch', as they say, one of the most important aspects of effective communication, is lost within cyberspace.
Am I talking any sense at all? =P
Well, you've developed a nice intro which opens up the debate in a casual way. So, it's easy for the reader to actually get interested about what you've wrote. And, you've gradually narrowed down the topic to cover most of the contents we've learned. Good structure though!
ReplyDeletejamie, i'm touched by your candor with regards to us commenting on your blog.
ReplyDeletethou shall comment.
i guess i would be the opposite of you then considering i'm the only child of the family where communication is a scarce commodity. To me communication is like music. It's like the notes moving back and forth between 2 instruments.
And when they are in perfect harmony, it's a joy to listen to. I love it when people can communicate successfully where all the messages are intact and undistorted. Communicating is like watching a piece of art being painted. Everyone engaged in it should enjoy themselves have fun or even be thought invoked.
The problem is these days it's been watered down thanks to technology. Even though technology has dramatically improved convenience in my personal opinion nothing beats having a face to face conversation and reading more from the body language than what you actually hear.
Well, I agree to what karen has said about everything has its pros and cons. Like some of us here, I do msn or sms frequently and to some extend, I do relied on it.
ReplyDeleteLike handphone, I used to think that I can do without it but I am wrong! I realised I cannot do without it when I forget to bring my handphone for one whole day!
I think all we need to do is to learn how to balance betweeen interactive and transactional models.
Joanne =)
They say that people who do volunteer work can empathise well with people? i may be wrong here... Anyways..
ReplyDeleteFrom experience, for both messaging and phone communication, to avoid all those misunderstanding, you have to tell the other party what is going on visually.
For example, if your friend on the other line is sharing an accomplishment with you, you dont just say "wow!". You also have to say that you are happy for your friend and that you cant help but smile.
Technology hasnt made us lazy, its just that some of the meaning in it is lost. In the case of the phone, its the visual aspect of communication.
yup in my point of view communicating is essential in our life. Maintaining a blog to communicate (Linear model) may not be the most efficient and effective, we should adopt interactive or transactional model for communication.
ReplyDeletei feel that communicating with technology is not very effective as we cannot see each other expressions and emotions. Online chatting also does not allow you to know who exactly the identity of the person. It is rather dangerous to talk online as it can be a fake user/identity.
Speaking to each other face-to-face will perhaps be best. Things can be put across clearer and faster. Less misunderstanding will happen too.
Good Luck!