social isolation

• Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

I really loved reading about the internet and social isolation. I completely agree with this concept. Nowadays communication is through the internet and other technology. When I go out to dinner I constantly see people on their phones or checking their face book. I personally am a book worm and live on my ipad with the easy access to downloading new books. I think that has allowed myself to be isolated more than I should be.  This has easily taken us away from communicating face to face, and isolated us each into our own technology based worlds.

media

I definitely agree with today’s society, that medium is the message. “Cool medium” is the idea that the audience is suppose to fill in the message. “According to McLuhan’s theory, each medium has its own internal logic, and each affects how we experience the world.” (page 291) Cool medium relates to our society because of how we use the media in everyday life, we need it for updates on our news and for entertainment purposes. Some of the stuff we hear especially news stories allows for us to want to get involved and even base opinions or biases on certain situations.

Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

I have never made friendships that exclusively exist on cyberspace, however I feel that most of my relationships continue through the easy acess of cyberspace. Today, that is huge part of how we communicate with others and I sometimes wonder how many people I would continue to communicate with if cyberspace did not exist. I think it all comes down to the fact that it is easy and convienient, without cyberspace it would take much more effort to maintain relationships with others so because of the fast pace world we tend to live in, I think cyberspace makes it easier to communicate with each other and keep in touch. I personally am a shyer personality so I think forming friendships on cyberspace would be difficult for me.

interviews!!

My favorite topic was typical interview questions! This was perfect for me, as I attend Jessup University and will be graduating in December, and then starting my path looking for a job! This really spoke to me on ways I can handle the different types of interviews I will be going on.  I usually get so nervous on interviews that I will completely stumble, but this table is a great way to help me prepare and sound confident for the interviews I go on. This table is all about preparation, and I know the more prepared I am the better I will do on my interviews. I liked this table better than finding information from the internet because I felt that it worked hand in hand with me applying who I am in my interviews, instead of sounding rehearsed. The table to give insight on not only being the person who is interviewed, but the interviewee as well.   

etiquette

 I definitely agree with the rules of etiquette in the text. Nowadays, people cannot even have a conversation with one another, without someone checking their phone. We are constantly distracted by our phones. There is a time and a place for using cell phones, one thing that drives me crazy is seeing me people at resturaunts or a dinner table texting or answering their phone, I think it is extremely rude and it takes away from personal time. Answering machines messages should be short and to the point, not dragged on. Its important to know the right time to call people and think about their type of schedules, whether they get up early or go to bed late. Email is a great way to communicate, but I think people tend to use it as only way of communicating and I think its so impersonal. I think it is all about the right time and place, but to me personally we live In a society were we are driven by these phones and electronic communicating. It has become so impersonal, and I think its sad that wherever people go they are constantly consumes by this phone.

organization

Organizations are tied to the environment through people that work and rely organization through business. Sierra College’s relationship to the town is that it is not only a place in the community that encourages people to further their educations, but it provides jobs, housing, and encourages a start to a better future for those who attend and are looking to further their education. It is also a place for sporting events, charity drives, and on the weekends the organization even hosts a place where people can look for cars for sale. Having a college in this area, allows for the community who attend to receive perks such as discounts at certain businesses. The town focuses on the college activity, and the ethical obligations include promoting academic excellence. The college owes the community to provide those that attend the right academic structure to help students succeed and move on to a better future.

Knapp's relationship theory

I found Knapp’s relationship model to be the most interesting concept.  I found the stages in coming together and coming apart to be accurate, and made a lot of sense to me. The most interesting stage and what I believe to be one of the most important is the integrating stage. While we participate in this process we are starting to recognize the loss of being a total person, this can be either welcoming or upsetting as stated in the book. That is why I believe this stage to be the most crucial for relationships. It’s really the stage when two become one together, and identify themselves as a couple and one.  Interests and attitudes become shared, and the couple can experience moving towards similar ways. For this stage to not work as well, I believe insecurity plays huge role and the question of what the other partner may be thinking. I really felt that I learned from this concept as well as related to it so that is why it stood out to me the most.

Ducks theory

I am the type of person that tends to be more shy and reserved than others, so I tend to be the one to sit back and observe, or even let others lead the conversation. The most unattractive qualities that makes me disengage from a person or conversation would arrogance and someone who is gossipy. I agree with Duck’s theory. I think do admit that a conversation can make a first time impression, but I truly believe one’s attractiveness is always determined by their personality. Even the most good looking person can be ugly with certain bad qualities. I think it is absolutely possible to eliminate someone and than reconsider them based on interaction and their cognitive cues. I think that is easy to do with one makes assumptions on another too quickly but realizes their assumptions were not correct, and they reconsider that person. I have done that a lot.

Roles

Which pattern (rigid complementarity, competitive symmetry, or submissive symmetry) do you think would be the most difficult to change? Why? Which would be the most damaging to a relationship? Which would be the most potentially damaging to the self-esteem of the individuals involved? 

I definitely think that competitive symmetry is both the most difficult to change and can be the most damaging to a relationship. For one, when a person thinks relationship, they tend to think of working with a team however competitive symmetry does not allow this. As stated in the text, in competitive symmetry both members are fighting for the one-up position, and that can be not only extremely difficult to change but also to be able to work well together when both parties are fighting for that same position. The pattern of this can be frustrating and take its toll on either partner, because each party is struggling on whether they can relinquish control or not, and its extremely difficult to get the parties on the same page. I think the potentially most damaging to the self esteem can be the rigid complementarity, not to the person who is taking on the upper role but to the person who is taking on the one-down role. I think it can be damaging when one person is more dominating to the other person. It can cause the other person to feel weak.