Week 11: Relationships in the digital age: Are we better off?

Blogger's Note: Sorry this was a bit late! I actually struggled with respond meaningfully to all these articles and find connective links (but that might be because I read the first half of the articles a while ago). I can't wait for the class discussion on these ideas!

“Texting insincerely: the role of the period in text messaging”

This was a really interesting research study! I had never thought anything about how I used my periods in texts before. Consulting my iPhone revealed that I do display some of the patterns explored in this study. Most of the texts where I expected an on-going conversation didn’t have a terminal period. My dad’s texts always end in a period or other kind of punctuation, giving a sense of finality, but I wonder if it is because he texts professionally a lot for his job. My mom on the other hand never uses periods, but she uses shorthand whenever possible and even creates her own acronyms.

“How friendships fight depression”

This study was not too surprising. I think the term “depressed” can be a little too liberally thrown around sometimes, but I have had periods of sadness in my life and I’ve definitely find that having real friends is the most helpful at getting me out of them.

“Give it five minutes”

I think the advice of this article should apply to positive and negative feedback, and not just for the sake of argument. I think people sometimes don’t examine their opinions past their knee-jerk responses, good or bad, and there can be something gained by always questioning what you think or believe.

“Chapter 4: phone use in social gatherings”

I was in middle school when I began to notice my peers getting cellphones. So I’ve grown up with the rhetoric of how rude it is to use your cellphone when you are supposed to be spending time with other people. I feel like one idea that is not really explored in this article is how others perceive others’ use of cellphones. Last semester, multitasking was a topic in one of my classes and one of the things we learned is people think they are better at multitasking than they actually are. I wonder if some people think they are enhancing the group by consulting their phones, but really are not.

“Teen voices: dating in the digital age”

I thought this article was interesting for the detail with which it went into each element of dating in the digital age. I don’t, however, have any other relevant thoughts.

“All my exes live in texts: why the social media generation never really breaks up”

My conclusion after reading this article is that social media helps you stay in contact with people you probably shouldn’t stay in contact with. I don’t really agree with the O’Connor’s assertion that “shutting the door on something is something we never want to do.” I think her opinion represents a very specific kind of person who likes life to be a bit messy.

“Photographer documents the death of real-life conversation”

I sympathize with the use of my smartphone as a “social prop” to “hide awkwardness” and to “fill the silence.” I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing to do if everyone else around you is doing it. I only think it is really bad when you do it when you are with someone who clearly has all their attention focused on you. Then it’s inexcusably rude.

“The likely cause of addiction has been discovered, and it is not what you think”

I found this story really enlightening. The only part I did not like was when it turned and blamed the Internet on the failure of people being able to connect. To expect people to be able to find compatible people with which to bond only in the places where they happen to live is unrealistic. Especially thinking about LGBTQ kids unfortunate enough to be born into extremely conservative families and communities. I truly believe the Internet has actually saved lives. I agree that bonding is important and love the insights about addiction this article provides. But I hate the direction it took at the end. It was unnecessary.