Social networking captures the qualities of a persons spoken language style. Are you a chatterbox that can spend hours just shooting the breeze? Well, chances are you are one of the people that have a paragraph on your Face book status. Personally, i am not into small talk, and that is reflected in my online communicating style. If I find something interesting or funny, I post a status update about it. Leaving a status update like, “Just left the gym, I’m feeling extra hungry, about to hit up Subway”, is just not me. Status updates like this make people seem desperate for conversation.
When I comment on someone’s status or receive a message in my inbox, my conversation is in much more detail. I know that I have the reader’s complete attention and my entire response will be read because we have a mutual interest. Also, my responses tend to be wordier, because I do not want to be misunderstood, which seems to happen often when communicating through social networks.
My apprehension to write a long Face book status reflects a lack of faith in humanity
(I may be reading too much into it, but for the sake of conversation and the five hundred words limit let say they are related). We live in the microwave generation; everything has to achieve its purpose while taking up as little time, space, and effort as possible. This is evident in everything from the preparation of food to cell phones. I really doubt the attention span of most people can endure a couple paragraph of you ranting about something that is unimportant to them. In the rare case that they actually take the time to read your MLA formatted, double-spaced, three page Face book status update, will you really be satisfied with a comment like, “:-( Wow that’s bad.” In certain cases, a person writes a status just to get something off their chest, but most of the time you want a response that is thoughtful.
I believe that communicating through social networks and text messages has a negative impact on students writing style. We are forced to squeeze our thoughts and feelings into 140 characters, and God forbid, a person has to hit the “read more” button on Face book. In social networking, people are conditioned to compress, if they want to be heard. Now compare this to the most important dynamic of an essay, which is expanding on ideas. The essay writer is attempting to answer every possible question about a subject before it is presented. Since most students spend more time sending text messages and social networking than writing essays, they subconsciously condense, leaving out details.
Social networks are a fun way to keep in contact with friends, but are not a good vehicle for meaningful conversation. We need to take time out of our busy schedule and talk to the people we care about. At least 50 percent of communication is nonverbal, so half your conversation is lost when social networking.
Hello Jonathan. How are you? After reading your blog post, I can say that I agree with your statement –
ReplyDelete“Leaving a status update like, “Just left the gym, I’m feeling extra hungry, about to hit up Subway”, is just not me. Status updates like this make people seem desperate for conversation.”
After a while these statuses become too much information and mundane. I do not care what people had to eat at McDonald’s or what they had for cereal. I do not really know why people feel so intent on shelling out every small detail of their lives. Despite all of this, I do think that it is nice to hear big news every so often. This news could be a university acceptance, a new job, or something funny. Funny messages take the edge off a long day. There are websites dedicated to witty Face book status messages. Some of them are really funny.
I do not understand people who have these long conversations where everyone can see them on face book. If I want to say something to that person only, I send a private message.Failbook.com has a great collection of similar embarrassing situations where people give out too much information.
I always though that people that left status updates on their Facebook were crazy. Honestly, I do not want everyone in the world able to find out what I am doing with a single button press. I don’t want my friends and family knowing exactly what I am doing; I like my privacy way too much.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about “living in a microwave generation.” It is so true that people now try to accomplish things in as little time as possible, and that is even translating over to communication. Especially online, I find myself trying to say as much as I can in as little words as possible. Using less words takes less time and is easier to type, so I am also guilty of this.
I also agree with you when you say that “half of your conversation is lost” when talking online. I have always stated that the vocal tone communicates just as much as your words. How do you portray sarcasm online? A smiley. That’s it, a little symbol is supposed to convey your sarcasm, but if you forget to type that symbol in, you run the risk of offending someone who thinks you are being serious. I usually avoid speaking online because of this, I use sarcasm a lot, and I don’t need the drama because of a misunderstanding.