How Communication and Technology Impact Us Daily
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How Communication and Technology Impact Us Daily
It has been said that change is the only guarantee in life; the sooner you embrace it the better off you will be. Technology has impacted the way in which communication takes place, both at home and at work, and it is a constant dance to manage technology in conjunction with daily interactions and activities.
Communication in a Technology Age
Many people believe that technology has helped to advance their communication skills and get them expressed faster, but others will say the opposite. With how quickly lives move there is a need to ...view middle of the document...
In nearly any public place it is common to witness people sitting with one another, yet rather than interacting with one another they are fully engaged with their electronic devices checking e-mail, texting, tweeting, and otherwise. Quinn (2014) believes that “being able to multitask is a positive characteristic; however, I am still convinced that eye contact is important” (p. 8). This creates another layer of difficulty to remain connected and communicating with increasing reliance and presence of technology.
In addition to speed and appropriateness there is the fundamental way in which the actual communication online is different from in-person and the benefits one receives from that. According to Berger (2013), communicating in-person is synchronous: one person says something and the other responds. Wait time for a response is short and people have to think on their feet. The opposite is true for written communication, which is asynchronous. People can respond in minutes, hours, or even days later and give themselves more time to construct a response (p. 293). This delay allows people to participate in self-presentation when it comes to sharing; carefully constructing what they outwardly want to project and have others believe their life is like. The various social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook are infamous examples of such an environment and make “other users feel their own lives are worse by comparison and reduce life satisfaction as a result” (Berger, 2013, p. 293).
Asynchronous, or interact interactions, are also more likely to be indirect communications. For example, status updates on Facebook are not meant to be seen by any one individual; rather it is shared with anyone that happens to see it and they can choose to respond or not. This can be beneficial, as it provides the poster with the feeling of social support, but it can backfire if negative responses (or no responses) occur and cause one to retreat, feeling rejected, misunderstood, or needy (Berger, 2013, p. 294). Direct communications force us to choose a particular person to reach out to and give us actual connection by way of conversation, not just talking.
Finally, anonymity is an important factor in how technology has impacted communication and our daily lives. With most in-person interactions identities are disclosed, people know who they are speaking with, and can connect with that person, on some level, based on outward appearances and actions. As Berger (2013) states, “When behavior is publicly observable, social acceptance concerns are hgithened” (p. 294). Online communications, or even phone calls where the caller has blocked their identification, leave nearly all aforementioned factors up for interpretation. People may even create an online persona that is nothing near their in-person personalities and being anonymous usually increases willingness to discuss controversial or taboo topics without connecting those views to their...
