EC Blog 2

Social information processing theory claims that whether you’re communicating face-to-face or online, you can communicate the same degree of personal involvement and develop similar close relationships. 

    I disagree with the theory above. I feel like online you can say whatever you want but the person may not know who you are. On social media people can perceive you differently. In person you can be talk and act different. Being in person and communicating is real and you can tell emotions through faces and reactions. Through the internet, you only see what us on the screen. 

    I feel as if the world "real" contradicts the theory. It reminds me of the song "Real" by Kendrick Lamar. The hook, "Look in the mirror and know I'm there, "With my hands in the air, I'm proud to say yeah, I'm real, I'm real, I'm really, really, real," relates to my thoughts of differentiating face-to-face and online. You cannot know a real person by just communicating with them through a screen. I believe you can get to know a virtual side of someone, but you won't get to know the actual person until you face-to-face meet them. 

    Although, I do believe you can form a bond with someone online. You form a bond with whoever is on the other side of that screen; whether it is who they actually are or who they pretend to be. An example of a bond going wrong would be called a "catfish" (credits to the MTV show). I have seen this happen in life. I know a girl in high-school who was talking to this boy for a few months through social media. She thought she fell in love with him and talked to him every second throughout the day. Eventually she found out the truth about who she had been talking to. She had fell in love with someone totally different than who she had thought him to be. My friend was devastated and went through a tough patch once she found out. I felt horrible for her. How can people do this? Why pretend to be someone who you aren't? Maybe because it is easier online to pretend than it is in real life.

    In Chapter 7 (pg.114) of the book, Communication Online, characteristics of social media are listed in a chart. One characteristic is "allowing access to a range of individuals". This characteristic lists a disadvantage that can relate to my post right now is:

"you may trust someone who lies to you and pretends to be something he or she is not..."

I love the way this is worded. I believe communicating in person is the best way to communicate. While being virtual, it can be fun but is often misunderstood in many ways.

Sources:
Dow, Bill. "Category: Project Management." Bill Dows Blog Site. Word Press, 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

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"Good Kid, M.A.A.d City (Deluxe Version) by Kendrick Lamar on Apple Music." ITunes. N.p., 01 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.

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Seabright, Patricia. "What Is Virtual Communication?" Archimedes Consulting. N.p., 15 Nov. 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

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Huillet, Michelle. Communicating Online. N.p.: McGraw Hill, n.d. Print.

Self-Disclosure

   In this age, everyone is somehow intertwined into the web. We use social media as a key communication tool. I do believe we put too much of our life online. Twitter, for example, has an average of 6,000 tweets published per second. That calculates to 500 million tweets sent per day. Most tweets I view on a single dashboard consist of personal information and comments about the user's current life. I often find myself questioning why people share all of this private information on a public website. I think it's odd to let a huge audience know details about one's life. I see people venting about interpersonal relationships a lot, as well as other life problems. Once you put something on the internet, you can't take it off. It stays there forever. I have learned that putting so much detail of one's life allows others to poke their noses in your business. Also, it can effect your future more than one knows. Employers are one reason to be careful what post. Family is another. Both could have an easy access to one's social media. Your past posts could haunt you forever.

   I don't share much on social media. I usually keep to myself and don't post much but I do scroll through a few apps throughout the day. I think what I do have on my social media account, Instagram, is already enough to share with the world. It's weird to think about it, but I don't even know who half my "followers" are personally. I have never met them or seen them in my life. I like to limit what I see though, I only follow who I know and have met. I am particular about what I share with the world, considering my family follows me and my account setting is public. I was not always this quiet on the big social M. I learned to be like this the hard way. In high school, I used to have a Twitter and I posted a little too much insight in my life. My parents ended up finding my account and weren't too happy with what they found. I soon lost interest in posting all the time. Now, I always overthink what I'm about to share... I think about how my family could be sitting on the other side of the phone...

   In the article, "Are we sharing too much online?" by Dean Obeidallah, we learn about self-disclosure taking a new route. A recent victim is known to log onto an anonymous questionnaire site to talk about her scary life changing event. I believe a lot of people typically self-disclose online rather than in person because it tends to be easier to write things out. Some prefer to be alone but communicate through online so they don't have to confront face-to-face. I like to keep my problems off line. I would rather talk face-to-face than online. But that's just me! Everyone has a unique way of coping with certain events and living life. 

SOURCES: Obeidallah, Dean. "Are We Sharing Too Much Online?" CNN. Cable News Network, 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2017. 

"Twitter Usage Statistics." Twitter Usage Statistics - Internet Live Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2017.

"Cat GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY." GIPHY. N.p., 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. 

Huillet, Michelle. Communicating Online. N.p.: McGraw Hill, n.d. Print.

"50 Great Blogging Tips." Bergh Consulting. N.p., 31 May 2015. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.