i think this is a very intresting artical considering this has become a reoccuring problem with people my age in todys social life. for example i was just arguieng with a person that got mad at me because i left a short comment on what they had text me. and they told me they thought i was mad a them. and i was just blown away on how they could come up with that through just a text. the disconnection is becoming a issue but with todays social networking people must know how to communicate through technology and face to face. people cant just put their feelings out there through text or facebook because how they are feeling they may want a certain response and a person may noy get that response they want because at that time the person is trying reply through text of some sort they mat be busy and can only give a few sentences back at that time. this creates a misinterpretation and later unecessary issues in communication

Although it has become one of the main ways we communicate with each other, I don’t believe that direct communication was Facebook’s primary intent nor appeal. Originally, it was a way for people to find out more about one another. I joined Facebook in 2004 when I was a senior in college and I had about 50 friends, all of whom I went to school with. Facebook was (and still is) a venue for self-expression and self-identification. On a simple internet page, I could tell the world (ahem, or my closest college friends rather) all the things that I thought were cool, unique and interesting about myself, without having to reveal any of the stuff I didn’t like.

Now, I have about 400 friends, including my Grandmother, co-workers, and my 13 y.o. niece. Needless to say, my comfort level with what I post has changed. But my maturity level has changed too, and I no longer feel the need to share how many drinks I had on Saturday night Let’s admit, in college you are willing to be, say and do things that maybe you wouldn’t in your “normal” life. But even now – call me insecure – there are things that I want maybe my friends to know that maybe I don’t want the world (or my mom’s friends) to know.

But it sure is a convenient way to communicate! For instance, I had surgery about 2 weeks ago. I struggled with what to reveal. Many said to me “keep us updated on Facebook.” Sure, there were plenty of people I wanted to update with my progress, and Facebook was clearly the easiest way to do this. However, I felt uncomfortable publicly posting things about my medical condition. But in this case convenience trumped privacy, and it did feel good getting “get well” wishes from people that I had forgotten that I was friends with.

There is no way to deny that sites like facebook have been beneficial in cultivating and maintaining friendships. With travel being more accessible and more students going away for university, having a social network that makes it easy to communicate with family/friends back home is crucial to keeping up relationships. You can reconnect will old friends you never thought you would hear from again. However, there are definite problems that arise with becoming a part of a social network. Everyone has heard about stories of young teens being harassed on the internet. The problem is becoming worse. With the media attention surrounding this issue, teens are becoming (hopefully) more careful about what and where they post comments and personal information.

Now posting information is hard to control. You never know if what you post on someone else’s wall who will see it and if their profile is also private. Messages can be forwarded, copied, printed. Nothing is truly safe. Privacy settings are not always easy to understand.

Communication is not what it use to be. People are abbreviating and using short phrases to make it easier and faster. Not only is it hard to understand the true meaning when not fully articulating yourself but also children are not speaking properly. I feel like no one truly understands how to explain themselves anymore. Words are not valued and language is not beautiful.

I truly enjoyed this blog post! I could not agree more with the subject of this post. While technology is amazing and progressive it is also very damaging to the personal connection we have to people through communication. Having been a speech teacher, I’ve taught students that not only can you NOT not communicate but also that communication is irreversible.

With written communication especially, people have the ability to keep and remember records of communication. What is scary is like Michele Cole pointed out, technology is giving people a false sense of security and these acts of courageous communication have the ability to be kept and relived. Therefore people, I have been guilty of this as well, say things they wouldn’t normally say and thanks to technology there is hard evidence of their communication!

Overall, social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become what I like to call “Stalker Friendly” in that people literally divulge personal communication covering all aspects of their life through these social networking sites. This, as well as the overall set up of Facebook, allows people to truly be able to have stalker capabilities and keep references and records of personal accounts people share.

Dr. Wills,
I am so happy you posted this blog, and I find it somewhat ironic that you are discussing the gaps in non-verbal communication via blog, but nevertheless insightful. I could not agree with you more, It often frustrates me how disconnected my generation is becoming with one-another. The social networking sights such as FAcebook, twitter, Myspace, etc. create this delusion in our minds that we are constantly communicating with our peers, when in reality we are simply becoming obsessed with what other’s think about us. I especially have a problem with the term “social networking”. The definition of Social states “characterized by friendly companionship or relations” This is a direct contradition of what my peers seem to use Social Networking as, a way to exclude others, expose others to inimidate them, and draw a crowd of pathetic youth to latch onto the “drama” that pertains to whatever horrible event of that day. In my mind, Face to Face will always be better. After all, the eyes are the windows to the soul, and these windows should not be able to b disclosed of by simply double clicking the upper righthand corner of the screen.

It’s interesting that you chose the topic of how we are loosing out on actual face-to-face conversations and relationships with the latest in mass communication. I unfortunately have a similar issue when it comes to communicating with my wife. There is a significant amount of time between when she is done with work during the week and when I actually get home. During that time, a very detailed text message conversation ensues regarding the events of the day and whatever else might be happening. Consequently, when I finally do get home, there is absolutely nothing to talk about and we tend to just sit quietly. I know some guys who might say, “You mean your wife doesn’t attack you with a series of questions the minute you walk in the door?” Well, no, she doesn’t and it has definitely had an effect on our face-to-face conversations. We actually tend to communicate better in text and I’m not sure what the long-term effects of that might be?

I’m glad this blog post addressed the frustrations surrounding this “disconnect”. I recently found myself boggled by this very topic. Last month, I helped move my younger cousin into her college dorm. I thought this was going to be a great bonding experience and a chance to catch up. I thought wrong. I’m with Jordan Oppelt. Am I not cool enough? I guess it didn’t matter what I had to say. She was much more concerned about sending out text messages and updating her status on Facebook. I learned more about her experience that day by reading those status updates.

This raised several questions in my mind. Is this just her generation or is this where we are headed as a society? I was already in college when Facebook rose to fame. Growing up, my main form of communication was either face to face or through a phone if I was lucky. My cousin was in grade school when this social media platform took center stage in the world of communication. Did I mention she had a cell phone and was texting by age 14? Pointing out these differences, it is easy to see this “disconnect” will only get worse. Michele Cole is on to something. Communication through technology can have negative effects on a relationship.

I’m glad this blog post addressed the frustrations surrounding this “disconnect”. I recently found myself boggled by this very topic. Last month, I helped move my younger cousin into her college dorm. I thought this was going to be a great bonding experience and a chance to catch up. I thought wrong. I’m with Jordan Oppelt. Am I not cool enough? I guess it didn’t matter what I had to say. She was much more concerned about sending out text messages and updating her status on Facebook. I learned more about her experience that day by reading those status updates.

This raised several questions in my mind. Is this just her generation or is this where we are headed? I was already in college when Facebook rose to fame. Growing up, my main form of communication was either face to face or through a phone if I was lucky. My cousin was in grade school when this social media platform took center stage in the world of communication. Did I mention she had a cell phone and was texting by age 14? Pointing out these differences, it is easy to see this “disconnect” will only get worse. Michele Cole is on to something. Communication through technology can have negative effects on a relationship.

I’m glad this blog post addressed the frustrations surrounding this “disconnect”. I recently found myself boggled by this very topic. Last month, I helped move my younger cousin into her college dorm. I thought this was going to be a great bonding experience and a chance to catch up. I thought wrong. I’m with Jordan Oppelt. Am I not cool enough? I guess it didn’t matter what I had to say. She was much more concerned about sending out text messages and updating her status on Facebook. I learned more about her experience that day by reading those status updates.

This raised several questions in my mind. Is this just her generation or is this where we are headed? I was already in college when Facebook rose to fame. Growing up, our main form of communication was either face to face or through a phone if we were lucky. My cousin was in grade school when this social media platform took center stage in the world of communication. Did I mention she had a cell phone and was texting by age 14? Pointing out these differences, it is easy to see this “disconnect” will only get worse. Michele Cole is on to something. Communication through technology can have negative effects on a relationship.

I am fairly new to facebook. I had a high school friend talk me into joining about a year ago. I have made contact with so many old friends that I think it’s a wonderful tool. However, you have to really look at it as a tool. As the article above noted, you can get a false sense of security. I can see this being dangerous for the young more impulsive type. However, I realize that anything I post can be seen by friends and relatives of all ages. I have found that I have to ‘block’ some that cannot control their language. I am always careful to post only what I want the world to know, or see.
Email is a different animal. I really use it mostly for business purposes and I am hypervigilant about professionalism. I realize how easy it is to misconstrue what is being said. I try never to jump to the offense and if it goes over 3 emails, a phone call is definitely in order. There is an etiquette for all of these tools. In my mind, its like teaching your child to say please and thank you… just a more modern version of it.

I have been noticed how texting has taken over a simple phone conversation. On numerous occasions I hear my friends say,”why call when you can text.” On the other side I hear people complain how they hate having full conversations via text. I am starting to dislike facebook. I like the fact that people are able to connect with others from across the world, but at the same time people abuse the time they spend on facebook. It is a waste of time to chat with someone who is in the same room. It can be funny at times, but not when it gets to the point of doing it for no reason.

The discussion regarding a need to post comments on social media outlets like Facebook goes along well with this week’s readings. On a personal level, people aren’t thinking twice about posting a revealing message. It’s almost second nature. With so much technology at our fingertips, we have access to these sites 24/7. When you look at the use of social media by the news media, there should be more thought behind those comments.

For example, the “off the record” comments made by President Obama regarding Kanye West during an interview with Terry Moran. While the crew was setting up, the President called Kanye a “jackass”. After that interview, the President’s comments were posted on Twitter. You know where this story is headed. The “off the record” statement should be an ethical issue for journalists. Are you being fair? Is this even news? Once you look at the context in which the comment was said, it’s clear this should have never been posted. Unfortunately, we live in a society where entertainment news drives our actions. Does this blur the line of what is ethical and what is not? Some may say they have a commitment to report the news to their audience. As pointed out in this case, sometimes the ethical issues outweigh the public’s right to know.

False security runs a thin line between being social and letting others invade your privacy. More and more stories are surfacing on the media about stalking or bullying via Facebook or other social media sites. When people share everything with all of their ‘friends’ (which shares it with all of their ‘friends’ if they comment on it ) without thinking of all the consequences is just dangerous.

There is definitely a relationship between media ethics and the domino effect. We watched the clip about the journalist putting president Obama’s off the record comment on Twitter, then the comment spreading like wildfire. Some of these personalities have millions of followers, so one little comment can go all over the world as fast as the speed of light. Media personalities really have to be careful when it comes to statuses, tweets, etc because they’ll never know who will see it.

Most of this article talks about the explosion of texting and Facebook-ing as a means of social connection and the effects these forms of communication are having on society. This is just another example of youth relying on electronic media to satisfy many of their needs. Many young adults and teenagers know no other way of getting information other than the Web or television, and this goes for their information about our government. And I think it only makes sense for government officials, like Hillary Clinton, to use electronic media as a resource on their campaign trail. And rather than just posting a video, that requires no actual interaction, Hillary used webchats as her resource, encouraging some interaction. It’s clear that electronic dialogue is what people prefer today, so kudos to her and other government officials for jumping on that train and connecting with people the way they like. If ya’ can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?

Although I already commented on this for another reason, this post again speaks to me. Seeing Hillary TV on your blog brings up the point of how governments are reacting to and working with social media. Why not, after all, social media isn’t going away and just as Hillary did, it is a great way to reach the masses. It creates a seemingly, transparent view into their jobs. A quick search shows there is even a Hillary Clinton Facebook page, whether she actually authors it, who knows? After finding her page, I searched for some other local officials with no luck. That’s probably a good thing for now, although eventually they may have to to keep up.

This article is a great one because it speaks to how the newer generations are talking with each other. There is a lot to be said to typing something (either on a phone or on a keyboard) rather than speaking it over a phone. Simply put, if you are using a phone you are culpable for every second of noise there is. You are on the phone so there is no way to escape when the conversation lulls, or that awkward goodbye, or when you are just doing something else. We are a multitasking people and we routinely have to do more than one thing at a time. It is so much easier to plop yourself on the computer and AIM a conversation about nothing than it is to call someone and have to force conversation. If you don’t have anything to say over the computer you can just stop typing and the other person will understand. Frankly the other person is probably talking to other people as well. It’s so much easier to do that than be responsible for carrying a phone conversation. The only question remains…what’s next?

These are all indeed very concerning topics of discussion. It can be very easy just to email or Facebook or text someone than to talk to them face-to-face. The ironies in this is that social network cites claim to have the potential of solving many of the world’s communication problems…and to an extent this is absolutely true; however, the irony lies in the fact that such social networks actually promote an ani-social communication as described in your blog. There is that loss of humanity because talking to someone through a computer takes away the human connections (i.e. facial expressions, tone of voice, pitch, body language, etc.) that are so essential when communicating. On the other hand, when using a social network to communicate it is not that difficult to create a sense of disconnect with someone because a typed-out communication message can be tailored in such a way as to avoid all emotion or connection. Today, what once were very private matters have suddenly become public matters, and this can drive communication to be more deceptive in its meaning. Someone once told me, “I would rather a person text me than call me because if I am in the middle of something then I don’t have to talk with them about this and that…”

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