Communication technologies have expanded beyond many people's imaginations over the 19 years that I have been alive. People are constantly left wondering what will they think of next when it comes to cell phones, computers, iPods and more. Though these means of communication can prove to be impersonal and may cause some misunderstandings, modern means of communications have become pivotal in my personal life, my working life, and my scholarly life.
Because I live away from home for college, my cellular phone and the Internet have become exponentially more important in my life than they were when I was living at home. I use my cell phone almost daily to talk to my parents and my brother. My cell phone enables me to stay up to date with everything going on at home. This has become increasingly important since my brother started having medical issues. Writing and receiving letters just would not bring the same level of comfort that hearing their voices does when talking on the phone or video chatting with them. However, that is where I draw the line. I do not text my parents, and they do not have a Facebook (Thank goodness). Alternatively, that is how I am able to keep in touch with my friends from home who go to different schools. I could call them, but college student's lives are unpredictable and we all have competing schedules, so it is much easier to leave a comment, write a message, or text them. That way they can respond when they have time, and I don't feel like I am interfering with their day. I would much rather see and speak to my friends and family face-to-face, and I do so often with my friends on campus, but it is just not possible most of the time. Communication technologies like the cellular phone and the Internet allow me to feel a certain comfort and closeness to my friends and family that I would not be able to without them.
Being an RA in Patapsco Hall, my boss is the Community Director, Kelvin. Kelvin is always away from his office at meetings, class, and more. Needless to say, he is a man on the run, and it is next to impossible to reach him. That is, unless you email him. Emails are his weapon of choice. He fills up the RA's inboxes with an average of 4 or 5 emails a day. I do not have a choice but to communicate with my boss through emails. I would much rather talk to him face-to-face, but that happens about twice a week at staff meetings. This way of communicating does cause some misunderstandings in scheduling and tasks asked of us. Many of us are late on some assigned tasks because of the delay in reading emails, the ambiguousness of them, and the lull in getting replies to questions. Because of these setbacks, I have put pressure on my staff to always meet face to face when planning programs to prevent these miscommunications. Emails, though not the most effective mean of communication, are essential in communicating in my "line of work."
The most pronounced mean of communication used in the UMBC community is... everybody say it together... Blackboard! Professors largely rely on Blackboard and mass emails sent through blackboard to communicate information about assignments, exams, useful material, and notes to students. Internet communication, though it does not replace face-to-face learning in the classroom, is necessary to supplement the in-class lectures.
Finally, I would argue that this reliance on communication technologies creates impersonal interactions that, because of the lack of nonverbal communication, can create misunderstandings. For example, you would generally not ask someone to marry you over a text message. Why is that? Because it is impersonal and insincere. It is easy to say anything if you don’t have to look the person in the eye, and I prefer to have the nonverbal communication of eye contact in every day communication. Also, because in many forms of communication, like text messages and emails, one cannot express a tone of voice or body language, misunderstandings arise. Like information blogs, I feel that text messages and Instant messages and emails also are based on the values of immediacy and interconnectivity rather than precision and clarity.
Though not as efficient or as favorable as face-to-face interactions, communication over phones and the Internet have proved to be very helpful in my and in my friends’, families’, co-workers’, and professors’ busy lives.
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