By Richard Parker
We live in the age of digital information and technology. We come into contact with digital communication frequently, in the form of e-mail, text communication via cellular phones, Blackboard, and various chat programs such as Facebook chat and Yahoo! Messenger. These digital forms of communication have many benefits, but many downsides as well.
Time is a scarce resource in our lives. Students spend an enormous amount of time studying for tests, writing papers, working on projects, practicing for musical performances and sports activities, and working jobs outside of school. Professors also have a heavy time burden. Certainly it does require a sizeable portion of time to complete a written assignment. But imagine being the professor who has to read and grade all the assignments for each class section they teach. Professors are also involved in research and other activities as well. They’re feeling the time crunch just as much as we are. With all of the time we devote to our responsibilities, what time do we have left to take a walk and chat with a new friend?
Relationships require a degree of interaction to form, develop and sustain over time. The benefit of having text messaging, Facebook chat and e-mail at our fingertips is that we are able to form, develop and maintain relationships that we may not otherwise have the time for if we only had access to face-to-face communication. It is possible to use these forms of communication while doing work, which is a significant factor in how often they’re used. For example, I am often signed into Facebook and talk to friends via chat while I’m working on assignments, including this column. It’s very difficult to concentrate and hold a prolonged conversation in person, while reading course texts or composing research papers. But it is possible to take short breaks during work to respond to these messages.
Text-based communication in these forms lacks many crucial components of face-to-face conversations. Body language, facial expressions, intonation, pitch and laughter are all missing in these communication forms. All of those elements are not only crucial for the understanding of what is being communicated, but are also important for a personal connection between those who are conversing.
Depending on the structure of the statement, it can be difficult to determine if a person is being facetious in a text communication. Conflicts may arise if the message is misunderstood as a serious statement. In situations where I am unsure if the person understands that I am intending a statement as a joke, I will often add “lol” to either the beginning of that statement or the end. What is truly interesting is that there are so many instances where I will affirm someone else’s joke with the “lol” acronym, but I won’t actually laugh. I would likely laugh at this statement and experience the pleasure from it had I heard this joke aloud in a face-to-face conversation. That is robbed from me in a text-based conversation.
The emptiness that the “lol” expression represents is the problem I see with text-based communications. They are lacking in the capacity to provide a sufficient connection between those speaking. These forms of communication can be useful in arranging or leading to face-to-face conversations, but I would strongly advocate that we all make time to have face-to-face communication as much as possible. In addition, consider writing your close friends handwritten letters, perhaps for their birthdays or for no occasion at all. While it is a text-based communication, it has a personal element in the handwriting of the author. Handwritten letters also take more time and effort to compose than text messages so the potential for meaningful discourse increases drastically.
