No Phone? No problem!

For today’s blog, I will be discussing CMC- Computer Mediated Communication. CMC is a part of the Social Information Processing Theory (SIP).  SIP is a theory that involves how individuals communicate with one another. This can be from social media websites, newspapers, media, phones, to face to face interactions. CMC specifically is referring to social websites, email, texting, this blog, and other ways we communicate to others through text over face to face interactions. CMC can be very useful, especially if there is something someone needs to know quickly, but it talks out those nonverbal interactions. It is hard for someone to tell what emotions someone is using through text messages or emails. I have been confused about whether someone was mad at me or not because they were texting me about their issue they were having and I couldn’t tell what their tone was. CMC takes out that interpersonal element that helps us identity other people emotions; unless they use emojis and smiley faces, but even then it doesn’t send the entire message across.

Dr. Gallagher presented my Comm. 321 class with a challenge: Go 48 hours without using any form of CMC. This meant no text messages, social media, emails, or internet. We were however allowed to use our phones to make phone calls but that was about it. In a nutshell she wanted us to not rely solely on technology and communicate with others in face to face situations. I gladly accepted this challenge.

I strategically planned out when I would be without technology: Over Dad’s weekend here at OSU. I figured it would be easier for me to be without technology while my dad was here because I was supposed to be spending time with him, not being consumed by the internet or talking to my friends. I originally was going to start on Friday morning and go till Sunday morning, but I had forgotten and texted one of my classmates about a Question and Answer with Dick Butkus that we were going to take our fathers to. After that was over I decided to start over (whether it was against the rules or not). After this incident, it wasn’t extremely difficult to go without CMC. I had turned the internet off on my phone to take away the temptation of Facebook and Twitter and I rarely text people unless it is about something important. It was also easier because of the OSU vs USC football game. The combination of game day taking away cell service and the actual game to encompass me and obtain my full attention, I wasn’t too concerned about what I was missing.

It wasn’t until the next day that I started to have issues. Once my dad left on Saturday I caved. It didn’t help that one of my friends was out of town and having some problems that she wanted to talk about, but because she was out of town she was unable to call me so CMC was our only way of communicating. 

I learned that I can probably be less reliant on some forms of CMC such as Facebook or Twitter, but when it comes to e-mail and text messaging, I have become “addicted” to those luxuries. They are fast and easy ways to communicate with other people, but they aren’t always the best option. Whenever possible communication should be done through face to face (or tone to tone for cell phone conversations) ,that way people still see different non-verbal interactions and different tones being used. Seeing how reliant as a society we have become on CMC it would be difficult to take it away completely. That’s why moderation is the key. It’s okay to use CMC, but it is also important to interact with one another in person.