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aravain -> A fundamental flaw of online communication? (1/5/2009 8:50:31 AM)
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I'm in a mood to muse...
perhaps the topic should be more similar to 'online forms of communiction' but I'm more focused on the communication aspect than anything else... in that instance I could throw in all forms of purely textual, aural, or visual communications...
I'll put any discussion questions in bold so that they're more noticeable... :)
maybe this'll make more sense after I finish here goes:
Like most human beings I'm a very social creature. A majority of the time I enjoy spending time with others, and I like talking, both aloud and in text, to them. However, lately, I find a great many of my needs, socially, are not being met to the extent that they previously were. I know the cause of it, but it's made me think about a fundamental flaw of online (or just basically limitted) communication and *why* it does not meet my social needs and expectations.
In pure simplicity it's the complexity of real-time, multi-layered social activity that I'm missing. Basically: talking with people in the same room, looking at each other, and focusing on conversation. There's many layers to it that any other form of social activity (which is intrinsically 'limited' by nature of not including all the layers) do not encompass entirely. In an 'online' aspect (which is the most on-topic discussion for this forum) this is restricted in many ways, and differently depending on the type of communication used.
Due to its immense complexity the internet can provide us with just about any sort of meeting and medium of communication short of face-to-face, physical meetings. Each form, of course, resembles an aspect of a physical meeting, but none of them truly encapsulate everything. I suppose if I had to rank the methods of communication off the top of my head, from most realistic to least it would go something like this:
Audio-video Chat
Video chat
Audio chat
Text-only chat
Forum chat
Even within the most realistic simulation of an offline, real life social event between two people, an Audio-video chat is still lacking in... something. There's a basic need that's not met within it. I get the person's voice, I get (limited) body language, I get communication... what aspect of a social event is missing?
I think I've narrowed it down to a basic interaction of environment. If I change my environment, it still does not affect my partner's environment, at all (unless we're AV chatting in the same room... to which my response would be "...").
So why is this aspect of social interaction so important? Why does it affect the meeting of my social needs? Were it able to be resolved, I wouldn't need a 'real life' (nor, I'd wager, would others) but what about it keeps (specifically) me looking for other people to talk to in-person, even if I don't know them as well as those I know online?
Similarly, the idea of a forum communication, beyond the answer of questions (or debate to find the right answer) or some execution of an intended act (such as roleplaying) seems like a silly choice when looking to meet 'social' needs... and yet it's the first place many go to feel solidarity, together, and like they belong somewhere. Everything about it says that you belong, you have a username, a password, and a whole attached identity that is editable by yourself (in the case of CM, it's the entire personals side)... but other than those two (narrow) focuses of communication it pales in its capacity as a social tool. You don't really converse with any individual, and the medium is more clearly useful in debate and accumulating opinions, not creating a meaningful connection between two or more people.
So why do we do it? Why do some people spend a big portion of their life online, on forums, looking to meet social needs (for entertainment, or to belong, or etc. etc.) when it's, at best, a lacklustre way, compared to other mediums, to meet those needs? Are other people as, frankly, frightened as I am of personal communication with someone they don't already know well?
so maybe the motivations for this are less clear than before [:D] but I'm interested in responses (not necessarily one-on-one communication) and trying to use other people's understandings of themselves and others to help me understand myself better.
P.S. I'm back :D (Also, my New Year's Resolution was to 'Learn something new about myself'... I figured I should get an early start)
EDIT: Oops... I got so excited I submitted prematurely... where's the internet cock-ring and submit desensitizing gel when you need it? Typos and such are fixed XD
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