The electronic media is fast and convenient, but is it worth
replacing the traditional face to face communication?
My opinion
is face to face communication is hands down superior to online text messages
simply because it includes body language, intonation , facial expression ,
physical contact and so on. These additional traits of seeing a person speak
his message helps our brain to process the said information more effectively
and correctly. With just the words, the impact wouldn’t be the same and misunderstandings
can easily arise. From what I have experienced decisions and responses is
quicker and efficient in a face to face communication. This would explain why
in a happy and free or tense and risky situation a face to face meeting is typically called for
instead of a conference call.
What about interpersonal communication skills?! I have a friend who recently told me how boring and awkward she thought she was when she met one of her long time chat friends. No she isn't boring or inexpressive if that’s what you think. On a personal note I have experienced this same feeling and it sucks. Nope I don’t think emoticons can substitute in text based conversation whatsoever but I have to admit that instant messaging does have its own perks.
Chat
history
A subject
of frustration. “I am Certain you said that.” “ No I didn’t!” “ Yes you did !” “
When? “ “ I can’t remember. Few months ago?”. And so on.
Time to
reflect and contemplate
In text
chatting I can appear calm, reasonable, informed or insightful whereas in face
to face I might seem rash ignorant, offensive, blunt or stupid.
Freedom
I can
listen to music, read a blog post, make an excuse or even lie and still keep a
conversation going. This could also be a reason why SMS or text chatting will
not be replaced in whole by mediated audio or video chat in the future.
New
people
Easy way
to make friends and exchange ideas or speak about common interest.
Dates
& Flirting
Dating and
flirting is been so easy with chat rooms. Just don’t be surprised if u ended up
dating a serial killer or flirting with your boyfriends best friend.
Above are few you would vote or not vote for but in reality research
and studies prove that 55% of meaning in an interaction comes from facial and
body language and 38% comes from vocal inflection. Only 7% of an interactions
meaning is derived from the words themselves. In short , content runs a greater
risk of being misunderstood than verbal communication.
Oh well you lot figure it out.
