We learnt about Computer Mediated Communications(CMC) in class recently and i recalled reading in the papers recently about a girl who committed suicide over someone she met over the internet. I could not really remember the details so i googled and i found this article instead. I am not sure if it is the same one cause they said it was in 2006, but they talk about and raise the same issue. You can read the article here.
In short, the whole story is about how Megan Meier met a cute boy named Josh on Myspace and they started building a friendship from there. After a period of time, this 'Josh' started to send her emails or post messages online that insulted her. However, unknown to her Josh was actually a neighbour, an adult at that. Prior to this, Megan was already taking medicine for her depression and low self-esteem problems, if i am not wrong.
Here we see that CMC has caused a shift even in the most simple basis of self. This is due to the face that there people are able to create a whole new personality for themselves. A different name, face, GENDER, hobbies etc. There is no way for sure to really tell them apart and to ensure that the person you talk to online, really is the real person themself. I am sure there are many other cases such as these, but I am rather lazy to google it.
The scary part is that there is no way that we can eradicate CMC from our lives. It has really infiltrated many aspects of life and way of life. If one day the internet collapses, the world will really go bonkers. It is so ironic. It does bad, yet we cannot let it go or to be less reliant on it.
There are many avenues to CMC but i think the internet is the most powerful yet destructive tool. We need it to manage relationships, skype and msn are the major communication mediums i use to contact friends and family overseas. It helps us to keep each other in check and to fill each other in here and there that both of us are not that clueless when they come back and we can pick up where we left off more easily. As for me, I need the computer on some sunday mornings if I wake up in time to catch sermons from city harvest's live telecast. I also need it to check my ublearns, student portal and email. But then there is also the consequences of it, like Megan Meier's.
But then communication over these mediums are really impersonal and half the time I do not see the other person face to face. At some times there miscommunications and horrible ones at that and it is all just words and no real emotions being portrayed. Also the issue of spam and advertisement pop-ups annoy me and some of which are inappropriate content for the under 18s.
It is too general to say this, but sometimes i feel that some people dig their own grave by being so open on the internet. Releasing private information, letting their guard down with "strangers" leading to the unfortunate incidents that happen next. I do know that some people seek self assurance online where photos of themselves looking slim and with double chin neatly hidden are posted whereas the unglamarous ones are just tucked away in some folder in the computer. This all leads back to the abuse of the fact that the internet and other CMC avenues hide your real identity.
I guess this is the last post. I will miss you somewhat, weallneedtofu.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
POST 6
Time is running out and this comms blog is due soon. Time orientation really influences behavioural patterns. For the past few months, since this sem started, there sometimes isnt a clear break between work and personal time. Often, I have to rush home after dinner or youth service to finish up projects or assignments, while my other friends leisurely head to the nearest starbucks or their latest craze, KTV joints. Haha disclaimer, I have not been there before. And why? SIGH. My friends have already coined me the "MIA" queen and I really feel guilty. One of my friend came back from Aussie for term break. We have not had quality catch ups yet and shes already packing up to leave for aussie this weekend. I guess thats the culture that i've got to get used to, especially now in UB where every single assignment counts into the final grade.
Getting into blogpost proper, there was an article recently in the Straits Times about China welcoming the first Japanese Battleship in enter their waters since the end of WWII. As I read it, I thought it would make up a very interesting post.
Ever since the Japanese invaded China till the end of WWII, there has been a notion of a strained bilateral relationship between the two countries. This is not just political, but rather prevalent in the society as well. Certain prejudices and stereotypes that one has for the other has not changed since the end of WWII. The chinese still have a negative view of the Japanese. For example sometimes when i watch dramas online, my mum will comment and say "dont you dare marry a Japanese. Don't forget what they did to Singapore". Ok firstly, I dont think a Japanese will marry me and secondly, let it go already. Perhaps cause she was one of the few born after the post war baby boom and her parents have inbuilt it right into her head that Japanese = bad.
As for the article i mentioned earlier, that can be read at http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080624/world/china_japan_military_diplomacy_2. It is not appropriate for me to dwelve into the political aspect of things, though i must state here that it is getting better between the two countries. because what do i know and i do not wish to get into trouble for anything, this being a public space. I believe that the hardest factor to overcome now is for both societies to accept each other with open arms. There was mixed reactions with the battleship visiting China, some were bitter, some were harsh and some were more accepting. But in the end, all the underlying messages and tones did bring up the fact that the Chinese still remember the actions of the Japanese during the war.
It definitely will be hard for intercultural comunication. THey have to get over all the attitudinal barriers of stereotyping and prejudices that have been "passed down" the generations. There will most probably be a culture shock for both parties but i think the hardest barrier to overcome will be ethnocentrism. There is this constant vying for power or a competition to see who is stronger and it can be seen in the article with some of the Chinese they interviewed saying, and i quote, "Originally Japan had money and they bullied us, but now we've developed so much that even if they wanted to bully us, they couldn't" and "China is more powerful now. Japan is very small so we're not afraid of them".
I do not know much on the Japanese view, but I do know that they too are not very happy with the Chinese over what happened in Tibet. When the Olympic torch was passed to Tokyo, security levels were high, but still there were protest - egg throwing and all.
It may prove to be a challenge to finally have everyone acceptable to each other but I think overtime and once the generations who have been through the war have passed on(really very sorry for the bluntness of it but lack of a better word!) I believe that Japan and China's ties will slowly but surely be reconciled.
Getting into blogpost proper, there was an article recently in the Straits Times about China welcoming the first Japanese Battleship in enter their waters since the end of WWII. As I read it, I thought it would make up a very interesting post.
Ever since the Japanese invaded China till the end of WWII, there has been a notion of a strained bilateral relationship between the two countries. This is not just political, but rather prevalent in the society as well. Certain prejudices and stereotypes that one has for the other has not changed since the end of WWII. The chinese still have a negative view of the Japanese. For example sometimes when i watch dramas online, my mum will comment and say "dont you dare marry a Japanese. Don't forget what they did to Singapore". Ok firstly, I dont think a Japanese will marry me and secondly, let it go already. Perhaps cause she was one of the few born after the post war baby boom and her parents have inbuilt it right into her head that Japanese = bad.
As for the article i mentioned earlier, that can be read at http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080624/world/china_japan_military_diplomacy_2. It is not appropriate for me to dwelve into the political aspect of things, though i must state here that it is getting better between the two countries. because what do i know and i do not wish to get into trouble for anything, this being a public space. I believe that the hardest factor to overcome now is for both societies to accept each other with open arms. There was mixed reactions with the battleship visiting China, some were bitter, some were harsh and some were more accepting. But in the end, all the underlying messages and tones did bring up the fact that the Chinese still remember the actions of the Japanese during the war.
It definitely will be hard for intercultural comunication. THey have to get over all the attitudinal barriers of stereotyping and prejudices that have been "passed down" the generations. There will most probably be a culture shock for both parties but i think the hardest barrier to overcome will be ethnocentrism. There is this constant vying for power or a competition to see who is stronger and it can be seen in the article with some of the Chinese they interviewed saying, and i quote, "Originally Japan had money and they bullied us, but now we've developed so much that even if they wanted to bully us, they couldn't" and "China is more powerful now. Japan is very small so we're not afraid of them".
I do not know much on the Japanese view, but I do know that they too are not very happy with the Chinese over what happened in Tibet. When the Olympic torch was passed to Tokyo, security levels were high, but still there were protest - egg throwing and all.
It may prove to be a challenge to finally have everyone acceptable to each other but I think overtime and once the generations who have been through the war have passed on(really very sorry for the bluntness of it but lack of a better word!) I believe that Japan and China's ties will slowly but surely be reconciled.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Post 5
It has been a while since I posted. I know it is not a valid reason but projects and other assignments were really stretching me end on end.
This post will be on group communication. If a group is "a collection of individuals who, as a result of interacting with one another over time, become interdependent, developing shared patterns of behaviour and a collective identity" - Trenholm(2004), then I believe that a family is a kind of a group as well. Being a family, there will tend to be friction and sometimes different values. It may be an oversimplification but I think in the end, there still is a strong sense of interedependence, interaction and being known as a collective identity.
In post 3 I mentioned the serial japanese drama Yamada Taro Monogatari and I will be using this drama today again for this post. In the drama, the main actor is Ninomiya Kazunari, who acts as Yamada Taro. Being born in a poor family and with his father being a freelance artist and mother being too 'sickly' to work, he is left to look after the family and taking up the position as 'man of the house'.
The way the family operates may be a little bit too much of a fairytale, but could be a true portrayal of the bond of poor families. But I'm not touching on that for this post. There are many instances in the whole drama(though i have not completed watching it), that portrays the theories of group communication.
Firstly the family has their own version of the ten commandments, but they sized it down to about 3 of them that they recite everytime before they tuck into their humble dinner of rice and miso soup. It is mostly related to money like how they should not borrow money cause they are not able to return it, or if they see a 1 yen coin on the ground, they should pick it up, smile and be thankful. Throughout the series - till where i stopped - it showed the strong stand taken by the family in committing to the family commandments. This is all somewhat part of Groupthink, where they are a 'cohesive' in group and how they are closed up to other ideas that could well be a better option to take. For instance when Taro's character was asked by his teacher to go on to University due to his excellent grades, he bluntly refused as he could not afford it. The teacher then persuaded him by saying he could take up a student loan first, but then he said that one of the mottos in his life is never to borrow money and leaving the argument as that. Also the series showed various snippets of the family members picking up a 1 yen coin and smiling while saying 'lucky', though to many, they would not bother.
There are also a few groupthink symptoms in this series. This was the part where the family was asked to help a very rich friend to look after her house for her. The family was welcomed to stay at the house and everything else will be taken care of, meals to clothes. Taro did not really agree to it at the beginning, but he remained silent as the rest of his 6 much younger siblings really wanted to see and feel what it was like living in a mansion. Hence in a sense, he actually gave up own his own feelings and values to agree with the rest of ther family, denying his own individual needs and wants so that the groups needs and wants are met. Here, the illusion of unanimity appears. While everyone else in the family assumed he was fine with it, but in fact he was feeling rather depressed and "emo" about it as the family was not as close as it used to be.
Another long post, sorry. But on a more random note, this sem is going to end soon. so during the 2-3 weeks break, do catch the drama on mysoju.com, it's really a nice slice-of-life kind of slow paced drama. MY PICK! also the main is cute :]
This post will be on group communication. If a group is "a collection of individuals who, as a result of interacting with one another over time, become interdependent, developing shared patterns of behaviour and a collective identity" - Trenholm(2004), then I believe that a family is a kind of a group as well. Being a family, there will tend to be friction and sometimes different values. It may be an oversimplification but I think in the end, there still is a strong sense of interedependence, interaction and being known as a collective identity.
In post 3 I mentioned the serial japanese drama Yamada Taro Monogatari and I will be using this drama today again for this post. In the drama, the main actor is Ninomiya Kazunari, who acts as Yamada Taro. Being born in a poor family and with his father being a freelance artist and mother being too 'sickly' to work, he is left to look after the family and taking up the position as 'man of the house'.
The way the family operates may be a little bit too much of a fairytale, but could be a true portrayal of the bond of poor families. But I'm not touching on that for this post. There are many instances in the whole drama(though i have not completed watching it), that portrays the theories of group communication.
Firstly the family has their own version of the ten commandments, but they sized it down to about 3 of them that they recite everytime before they tuck into their humble dinner of rice and miso soup. It is mostly related to money like how they should not borrow money cause they are not able to return it, or if they see a 1 yen coin on the ground, they should pick it up, smile and be thankful. Throughout the series - till where i stopped - it showed the strong stand taken by the family in committing to the family commandments. This is all somewhat part of Groupthink, where they are a 'cohesive' in group and how they are closed up to other ideas that could well be a better option to take. For instance when Taro's character was asked by his teacher to go on to University due to his excellent grades, he bluntly refused as he could not afford it. The teacher then persuaded him by saying he could take up a student loan first, but then he said that one of the mottos in his life is never to borrow money and leaving the argument as that. Also the series showed various snippets of the family members picking up a 1 yen coin and smiling while saying 'lucky', though to many, they would not bother.
There are also a few groupthink symptoms in this series. This was the part where the family was asked to help a very rich friend to look after her house for her. The family was welcomed to stay at the house and everything else will be taken care of, meals to clothes. Taro did not really agree to it at the beginning, but he remained silent as the rest of his 6 much younger siblings really wanted to see and feel what it was like living in a mansion. Hence in a sense, he actually gave up own his own feelings and values to agree with the rest of ther family, denying his own individual needs and wants so that the groups needs and wants are met. Here, the illusion of unanimity appears. While everyone else in the family assumed he was fine with it, but in fact he was feeling rather depressed and "emo" about it as the family was not as close as it used to be.
Another long post, sorry. But on a more random note, this sem is going to end soon. so during the 2-3 weeks break, do catch the drama on mysoju.com, it's really a nice slice-of-life kind of slow paced drama. MY PICK! also the main is cute :]
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