Thank you!

We have come to the end of my blog-life. Initially, i must admit, it was a real chore.However, Being forced to analyze each unit has helped me understand them better and be able to apply them so im glad we had to. Doing a psych degree, it is extremely important for me to understand the basics of communication.

Thank you all for your support and awesome comments!

I sincerely hope you’ve at least learnt a thing or two reading my entries and you now better understand the concepts and ideas in communication.

Happy communicating! Here’s to you guys…

[Happy 21st Li!]

Online identity. Are you REALLY who you say you are?

All morning, ive been looking for a clip, something to illustrate how people change their identities online and pretend to be someone they’re not, be it a prank, movie, advert or documentry. This video basically says it all.

With so many social netwoking sites such as facebook, my space, friendster, high5, Zorpia ( and the list goes on..), people are so many avenues to socialize. These sites are extremely beneficial to us as they allow us to find friends whom we’ve not seen for a long time and to reconnect with long lost friends and to meet new people. Chatting roooms like IRC, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger and MSN allows us to interact with people without having to wait for a long time for replies like the email, thus the name ‘instant messaging’. These are all collectively know as Computer Mediated Communication.

Many enjoy using these programmes as it allows one to keep in touch with friends and meet new people without having to physically meet them and to reveal their true selves as it all takes place on the virtual platform known as ‘cyberspace’. Cyberspace affects not only how we communicate but what we communicate as well. Seeing that the individuals we might interact with have never met us and do now know how we look like, it is easy to tweak soem information about ourselves or even entirely change who we actually are.

In a survey done by ReadWriteWeb, they asked participants if they ever faked all or part of their identity in web activities. Out of 1,545 paricipants 20% said they always use thier own identities. People do this for mulitple reasons. On the internet, an individual can be the person that he or she desires to be. Being insecure about one’s identity could be a cause of this.

In the real world as we know it, people make their initial judgements by the way we look and carry ourslves. In first impressions, looking good and presenting yourself well plays a big role. On the internet, that element is no longer there (with the absence of webcams that is). People also fake their identities to engage in disgraceful acts such as cybersex or old disgusting men preying on young innocent girls and so on..

So although CMC can be beneficial to us, people tend to abuse it which makes it a dangerous and harmful environment.

Be true to yourself. Don’t need to cybersex and flirt and prey on young innocent girls and all ok?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/fake_web_identity_poll_results.php

Aaayo, Im tired of using technology ayee!

Firstly, i was soooo frustrated with the internet. techology makes things sooo complicated and inconvenient sometimes. I typed such a loooong entry and the site lost it. Thankfully, i saved it onto word incase it screwed up. Clever me. UGGHH!

Anyway….

[Please click on the images to enlarge, gotta see it. ultra funny]

What is the world becoming to???Ha! Although i personally encourage what is portrayed in this strip but of course, my point is that is most definately not normal! Technology has infiltrated many aspects of our society and we have become very much dependent on it. People are so overly technology crazy, they need to get the latest most expensive and high tech devices just to be one up of their peers. Having these up-to-date, high-tech devices use to be a luxury but has now almost become a necessity.

Over the years, technology has been advancing so rapidly.Technological diffusion, known as the rate at which technology is adopted by society, is usually influenced by as few factors such as : the cost-benefit tradeoffs , and whether or not is it able to solve the existing communication problems.

Communication has evolved tremendously. When people though it was astonishing to be able to speak on the telephone instead of sending snail mails, mobile phones and 3G came about. Now people could not only hear each other miles apart, they could also see each other. Not only does almost every household have at least 3 television sets, programmes broad casted in other parts of the world can only be received in this small tiny red-dot of an island. I personally think that is absolutely amazing!

Likewise, the internet has also made great improvement over these years. Research and communication has been made much more convenient. With wireless telephony infrastructures, one can access the internet right from the small hand held device known as the mobile phone. access to information from all over the world is available in this tiny fragile device.

However…….

Having accessiblity to just about anything and everything; even communicating and interacting with people from home or other electronic devices, some don’t see the need to leave the comforts of their home. This can have great impacts on your healthy psychologically and emotionally and people lose their skill to communicate in real life.

FYI

IAD = Internet Addiction Phobia (A real diagnosis)

Technophobia = Fear / Dislike of technology

Technophillia = Strong enthusiasm for technology

By the way! I mean disrespect to this assignment with these strips. dont misunderstand! I think this is a really good assignment! If not for this blog, we probably wouldnt review our lectures and put any effort into inferring what we understand from the different units People just have to know where to draw the line.

Communication theory

•Little Miss Sunshine

•[[ By normal standards, the Hoover family consists of some decidedly odd characters. There's the a motivational speaker, Richard; his wife Sheryl, who's losing patience with his crisis and their marriage; their teenage son Dwayne, who worships Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence until he's old enough to become a fighter pilot; Sheryl's brother Frank, a scholar who lost his lover and failed in his attempt to take his life; Grandpa, who's been kicked out of his nursing home for snorting heroin; and Olive, the seven-year-old daughter, who will not let an obesity problem get in the way of her winning the Little miss sunshine pageant. She's been rehearsing her talent program with Grandpa and seems sure to win, so the family hops into a VW bus and drives Olive to the pageant for a chance to fulfill her dreams. The story follows their journey to california and depicts their relationships in the family and their various issues. ]]

•

According to the Limited effects theory of uses and gratification, audiences play an active role in choosing and using the media and consumed the texts for several reasons such as:

•Entertainment

•Diversion- to escape from every day problems and routine

•Personal relationships – using the media for emotional purposes and as a substituition in other areas of life

•Personal identity – Find ourselves reflected in texts and relating to it or to learn behaviour and vaues

•

Thus, it was important for the makers of this movie to incorporate aspects to appeal to the masses. Little miss sunshine therefore reflects many aspects of our lives.

•Relationships: Parent and child relationships which many families can identity with. Parents Richard and Sheryl respected their children’s decisions and tried not to interfere ( taking the silent vow and trying for the peagant). They gave them both support and encouraged them toward their goals. Like many siblings, relationships are not extremely close; however, when a sibling is facing a difficult time  of their lives, they provide each other with support and stand by each other- this is one aspect i can identity with as it reflects the kind of relationship of my brother and i.

•Romantic relationships: Two examples of romantic relationships were portrayed in this movie- one, between the parents, and another between sheryl’s brother, Frank and his partner.

•Goals in life, determination: Despite being overweight, Abigail was deteremined to achieve her goals of being crowned ‘little miss sunshine’ while her brother dwayne was willing to keep silent till he was allowed to persue his dream of becoming a figher pilot. These simple goals in life and their determination to succeed is one almost everyone can identify with.

•Humour for entertainment: Much humour was injected into this film for entertainment. Therefore, although some may say they dont identify with any subjects this film deals with with regards to his or her personal life, humour never fails to appeal!

I can personally identity with this movie in more areas than one. These issues affect us all in one way or another at some point in our lives.

I say, it’s a must watch!