I have had a couple experiences where using the internet has greatly affected my ability to communicated, both positively or negatively. I think that the situation that stands out most in my mind was when I first told my mom that I was pregnant. Because I was up in Oregon, and she was home in Hawaii, telling her in person was not an option. So I called her and ended up telling her over the phone. However, I felt that that there were still a lot of things left unsaid, so after that phone call, I ended up writing her an email telling her how I felt, and after that I felt a lot better. She wrote me an email back, and she was able to say what she needed as well. After that, we talked on the phone again, and it was a lot better because we both had said our piece and gotten everything out in the open.
While many people may feel differently, I feel that this situation was actually eased because it occurred in the realm of cyberspace. Having the use of email allowed me to write everything that I was feeling and get out everything that I needed to say. I didn’t do this because I was too afraid to say something to her over the phone; I did it because I couldn’t quite find the words to verbally express myself. But since I’m a lot better at writing than I am at speaking, I was able to put my thoughts in to words. Also, I was able to edit the email and revise it to make sure that it communicated what I wanted it to.
If things had been different and this situation had happened outside of cyberspace, I think it may not have ended as well. Without email, the only option that I would have for writing to her would have been a letter. For this situation, that wouldn’t have worked, because it would have taken a few days for the letter to get to her, and this was not a situation where waiting would help anything. In that case, it would have come down to just having more phone conversations, and I feel that if I had done that, things might have been left unsaid.
I think that many times, people have things that they want to say, but just can’t find the words. When we are communicating with another person face to face, their mere presence may cause us to be afraid or unsure of what to say, especially in “sticky” situations. Even if we use the telephone, it is sometimes hard to put our thoughts in to words, or it may be that the other person doesn’t give us a chance to say what we want to say. Email gives us a way to instantly communicate with another person without having to speak. Writing out our thoughts enables us to say everything that is on our minds, without having to be afraid of the other person’s reaction or of getting cut off. This week’s reading in Wood & Smith discusses the information gap, and questions whether or not access to the internet should be a basic human right. Without access to the internet or email, people are deprived of this form of instant, written communication, which can help ease the communication process greatly, and may sometimes even be essential to the process.
Just checking.