The Face of Communication

Communications and the written word

Communications depending on the written word don’t reduce cultural and ethnic bias, people still type in their native language. In that case, words and ideas are harder to comprehend than visuals. Class, age and gender bias will most likely be reduced through online communications because when online it’s hard to tell what class, age or gender people are unless they reveal it so I believe they will be treated and dealt with differently through written words.

Children: Reading and Writing

I don’t think e-mail, discussion groups or chat groups will offset children’s tendencies to not read or write. If anything, these extra activities will distract them even more from reading books and writing on an actual piece of paper. The more people use computers, especially children, the less literate they tend to be. The internet may have a variety of information at one’s finger tips, but that doesn’t mean the information is being used. The internet has many shorthand responses since the advent of instant messaging. Children won’t learn the correct way to spell things and they won’t broaden their minds through discussion groups because most of those forums are based on opinions. Personally, I noticed the more I used a computer the worse my handwriting got, not even in cursive form, but plain print. Children need a balance of classic knowledge (i.e. reading books, learning in an actual classroom and interacting with peers) and new technology. If this balance exists then children will be well rounded in education and the information society.

Online Communication vs. Face-to-Face

One example that online communication is preferable to face-to-face communication is when your business partner/partners are somewhere else in the world and there is no other way to communicate, hold a conference, or meeting other than via the web and email.