Communication & Theatre 4/514 Issues in Organizational

Communication

The Interpersonal Divide

we increasingly use technology which takes time away from face-to-face interaction. How so?

“People deprived of interpersonal interaction eventually suspect rather than trust others.” P3

If we spend too much time on the internet we increasingly _______ ourselves from others. Implications?

There is also a blurring of identity and place. On the internet we are. . . ?

Ben Bagdikian: “to the surprise of almost everyone the automobile changed sexual habits.”

What does it mean to state “the geography of nowhere?”

They say that the brain produces less activity when watching tv than while one is asleep. Implications? Does this apply to computers?

The seven habits of highly mediated people:

1. lying (one lie leads to more lies)

2. deceiving (polarization: lie or tell the truth vs. discretion is the better part of valor)

3. being uncivil

4. overreacting to perceived slights

5. simplifying problems in order to place blame

6. listening for motive rather than meaning

7. coveting what we lack and losing what we have

Overconsumption of media = we view the world flatly (race, class, gender, religion) and episodically (measuring happiness on outcomes of incidents over which we have little control).

Corporations have ravaged the environment; corporations are plundering the virtual habitat.

• What is the key characteristic of a devastated landscape?

• Everything looks the same. • Implications for relationship?

We consume media in separate rooms in our home.

Media appliances and computer technology displace us in our homes. How so?

The average American home has TVs for each family member and a pc for the parents and the children. Implications?

Thus, we live in an isolated world where marketing can be targeted precisely. We might have a father in the den getting messages about Viagra

the mother in the exercise room receiving messages about Metabolite . . .

the son in his bedroom the object of messages about End-Zit . . .

and the daughter in her bedroom is given marketing about WonderBreast

Fear is the fuel of marketing: Without toothpaste, a full head of hair, a thin body, nexium, deodorant or a nice car, one might be left a spinster with a stomach ache and passed over for promotion.

Couple all the previous with: Americans enjoy about 16.5 hours of leisure per week and have added almost a month of extra work since 1980.

Conscience demands:• That we love and be loved by others.• That we have meaningful relationships

with others.• That we contribute to community.

Consciousness demands:

• That we see the world as it actually is rather than how we would like it to be.

• That we foresee the impact of our actions before taking them.

• That we assess consequences of past actions to make informed choices in the future.

When we live morally and mindfully we experience acceptance.

Cultivation theory: when we spend our time watching TV, etc. we tend to perceive that is the way things are.

Since TV news Since TV news is generally is generally concerned with concerned with the sensational, the sensational, we tend to we tend to perceive that the perceive that the world is more world is more dangerous than dangerous than it actually is. it actually is.

• Forty percent of the stories last 30 seconds or less.

• One in four stories is about crime, law or courts.

• Less than 1 percent of stories could be called "investigative.“

• Health stories outnumber all other social issues by 32 percent.

• There are as many stories about the bizarre (8 percent) as there are about civic institutions.

When we are afraid, we tend to avoid strange others.

“Before and after” testimony serves to make us fearful and persuades us that the product advertised is the solution. Coupled with a “money back guarantee” we have “nothing to lose.”

Our current “psychographics:

We waste too much time in the nothingness of cyberspace.

We spend too much money accessing that nothingness.

We experience that nothingness instinctively because there is literally no “there” there.

We have forgotten how to locate the “there.”

Albertson’s discount card: appears to offer savings to those with a card. What the company gets is a computerized database that describes the buying history for every consumer. This database is sold to recoup the apparent “savings.” So no discount is actually given. Thus we have a two-class scheme: those who can afford to maintain their privacy and those who can’t.

Without interpersonal intelligence we are never really certain about our roles, responses and emotions, especially when we spend significant time each day consuming media and using technology.

When we use technology we become less mindful of our surroundings and our behavior, blurring consciousness and dulling the conscience.

Because it is easier we communicate virtually more and face-to-face less.

When we communicate virtually, contact becomes untimely . . .

content is capricious rather than cogent . . .

dialogue is mediated rather than meaningful . . .

consciousness is divided rather than directed.

How is “character” a moral tattoo?

End of Session