Ashley’s Weblog

While thinking about technology and what it has done for us, I can’t help but think about one way that it has hindered some of us. The increase in popularity of texting, MSN, Facebook and email I think that some people have forgotten how to communicate face to face. I find myself writting more emails rather than calling people to talk about something such as a group project, placing an order or reserving a hotel. I know I am not the only one who is doing this and it can be causing some problems with the communication skills we have.

I think back to highschool and all the relationships that were started and ended over MSN. It can be so easy to say something over a computer when they can’t actually hear you and you can’t see their reaction. I also think that this increases bullying because it is so easy to attack someone emotionally over the computer.

It seems that more and more people text because they don’t have time to call. This to me means that you aren’t important enough to call. People don’t want to be caught on the phone for 15 minutes for a 2 minute phone call so we decide to text because it’s much easier to let someone go, or just not reply. Maybe I feel like this because I am not an avid text messenger. I am not very good at it and never proof read my text so my friends have to try and translate what I am saying haha.

With the increase in technology use, I think we need to focus on skills such as communication because no matter what happens, communication skills are always going to be important. In a classroom you could get over this by having students create power points and presenting them so they are comfortable talking in front of a group of people (a good skill to have for most jobs). These are just some of the things I was thinking about. I hope it made sense.