So Much Cooler Online

Social Information Processing Theory (SIP) is focused on how we develop relationships through computer mediated communication (CMC). CMC is great for information processing, however when building relationships and creating bonds with others, it is useless. 

Our world today is completely surrounded and consumed in technology. When my generation was born, things such as cell phones, laptops, and DVDs were crazy, new ideas. Pagers, palm pilots, floppy disks, VHS, and dial-up; these are things that middle school students today have never even heard of. Technology Innovation is zooming into our world at a ridiculous speed. We now have computers fitting in our pockets and can get information about anything in a matter of seconds.

             My communications teacher asked us to go 48 hours without technology. I was pumped for this idea, I thought it would be very cool to see what other people’s reactions would be if I stopped communicating with them over technology. I looked in my planner to start planning when would be a good time to do this. This is when I got tripped up. I could not find a good time. Every day I had something where I needed to be on some sort of technology to communicate or accomplish something. I thought to myself, this had to be the most ridiculous thing in the world. Two days, that’s it! It really can’t be that hard to find two days where I can ditch the cell phone and the computer. I just couldn’t do it though.

            This proves how much technology consumes our daily lives, especially the life of a college student. Yesterday my computer shut down and was having a number of issues. I waited almost 30 minutes for it to reload and update. You would think there was something I could have accomplished during that time, but everything I needed to complete my homework was on my computer. I am constantly on my computer doing homework for classes, stuff for my job, checking my email, or social media’s such as Facebook and watching movies/television. If I am not on my computer I am using my cell phone to text, email, do my banking, look at the weather, filter photos or social media’s such as Instagram. I am a good example of a college student who is consumed in technology. Some voluntary and some forcefully, yet I am not anywhere close to being fully consumed like many other college students.

            During the first three weeks of school this fall I deactivated my Facebook for sorority recruitment. Recruitment lasted one week, but I really enjoyed not having it. I found myself constantly getting notifications on my cell phone and checking it solely to fulfill my boredom. Being Facebook free was AMAZING! However it posed a few problems for me when I kept missing some random events because I simply didn’t know about them. It wasn’t too big of a deal until one day I went downstairs for a meeting in my sweatpants to find everyone in black dresses and heels for a ceremony. I had no idea this was happening and I missed the ceremony. I concluded it was time to reactivate my Facebook. All the information from my sorority is conveyed through Facebook. Computer mediated communication has become a necessary form of communication in today’s world.

            That being said, it truly can detract from personal relationships and that connection people make when they surround themselves with friends and family. I feel it is becoming a problem how much technology is used over face-to-face contact. Media richness theory says that face-to-face communication provides both verbal and nonverbal cue systems that convey the emotions of the communicator. With CMC, there is a lack of nonverbal cues creating a barrier to communicating. The social presence theory suggests that CMC deprives someone of the sense that another actual person is involved in the interaction. My generation and those following are becoming addicted to technology to the point where human to human contact is becoming unnatural and uncomfortable for people.  

               This photo is a perfect depiction about how the younger generation of today uses technology in every aspect of their life to avoid face-to-face communication. When we are bored, feel awkward, or with people we aren’t familiar with we tend to pull out our cell phones to look occupied in the eyes of others. It’s a very interesting concept and Einstein nailed it when he predicted this outcome. 

               I am a big fan of country music and there is a song sung by Brad Paisley titled “Online” which is about how anyone can have themselves look a lot cooler and appealing while online.

              This video represents selective self-presentation which is an online positive portrayal in which you have no fear of contradiction. It enables people to create an overwhelming favorable impression. In this video, the pizza guy is creating an online persona to chat with women and look cooler than he really is, based on society’s standards. Impression formation is the composite mental image one forms of another. The women he is talking to have an image in their heads of who he is, however because of the lack of face-to-face communication they don’t see the real him.

Society has completely conformed to a technology based world and sooner or later we will all become this guy: 

Harvard in Pink

Metatheory is defined as theory about theory. Theory is making a hypothesis, it explains how and why things happen. Theories help you form ideas, integrate concepts and make connections between ideas. Within theory, there are seven traditions and I am going to be discussing three of them:  socio-psychological, rhetoric, and phenomenological.

As you may already know about my love for comedy movies I decided to use Legally Blonde as my reference for examples to help explain and connect these traditions. Legally Blonde is about Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), a blonde sorority girl who is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school to get him back but once she gets there she realizes she could make a great lawyer. 

The following scene involves two of the traditions, socio-psychological and Rhetoric. Socio-psychological is defined as cause and effect. It predicts future behavior by analyzing how one variable affects another. Rhetoric is defined as the art of using all available means of persuasion, focusing upon lines of argument, organization of ideas, language use, and delivery in public speaking. David Kidney (Oz Perkins) is another law student in her class. He is interested in this girl and when he asked her out she said no because he is “a loser”. Elle decided to change their minds. 

The rhetoric tradition is used in this scene by Elle. She sees how mean these girls are being and she knows what a nice guy David is. She uses an interesting method to persuade these two girls that David is desirable. Having the ability to persuade is an extremely important quality in communication. Everyone we meet has different thoughts and opinions based on their own personal experiences and upbringings. We, as humans are constantly attempting to sway others to believe and follow our understandings and beliefs. With the ability to persuade, much can be accomplished.

The socio-psychological tradition predicts future behavior. She is predicting that the scene she is about to make will cause the girls to think twice. She knows how a girls mind works. The two girls see that Elle, a beautiful blonde, went out with David and had an amazing time which causes them to suddenly re-asses him. Effective communication requires audience adaptation. This is a perfect example of using language and delivery in terms of a specific audience as means of persuasion.  

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The next tradition I wanted to discuss is the phenomenological tradition which is defined as an authentic understanding of others’ perspectives and experiences. In this next clip, Brooke (Ali Larter) is on trial for murder and Elle is one of the law students working on her case. Firstly, they share a bond of sisterhood as they are both members of Delta Nu Sorority. Secondly, Elle took Brooke’s fitness class when she was in college. Professor Callahan needs Brooke’s alibi to win the case but she doesn’t trust him, so Elle went to get it. 

Because Elle understands Brooke and her personality she is able to gain her trust. Understanding is very important in communication as it brings forth that trust and ability to better communicate. Had Brooke told any of the other students or Callahan, her alibi, they most likely would not have understood the dilemma she was going through. This gave the relationship between Brooke and her lawyers a deeper connection and a better ability to communicate with one another.

All three of these traditions provide different insights into communication and they can intertwine with one another. All seven are equally important and possessing the ability to use them gives you higher communication ability in my opinion. Using multiple perspectives elevates one’s cognitive complexity and their overall skills in communication. This movie is a great study of the different traditions because it shows that someone’s ability to recognize how to use their skills within these traditions far outweighs pure intelligence. Throughout this movie, Elle is viewed as a dumb, blonde; sorority girl who’s only hope in life is becoming a Victoria Secret model. She may not have the years of intelligence that other students or professors have but she has the ability to communicate. She uses the socio-psychological, rhetoric, and phenomenological traditions in her communication with others. I believe this to be true and Elle proves it in this movie that using the traditions in the right way at the right time sets you up for success.