Technology and Interpersonal Communication.

With the advancements in technology we communicate by internet and we have so many ways to present ourself online. Most of us can be framed by signaling theory, which proposes that we have qualities that we wish to present to others. There are 4 assumptions associated with the way identities are managed online. I am gonna try to relate them to Facebook.

Assuption1: The computer screen can deceive.

As the assumption says, when people are online they often pretend to be someone or something they are not. This is also happening in Facebook. There are people who talk too much by Facebook chat and then when you see them around they don’t say to you a single word. They pretend to be social and open people but in reality when you talk to them they are shy and clouse. There are also people who pretend to be another people. There are people on Facebook that have a fake account just to spay people and to get information of them. Few murders took their victims through websites like Facebook. This can be dangerous and that is why it is very important not to show your real name or address online.

Assumption 2: Online Discussions Often Prompt Introspection.

This assumption applies through the privates messages on Facebook. You can communicate with people by private messages and this message also makes you analyze this messages and thing about it and about our response of that messages. For example my ex-boyfriend broke up with my through a private message. However he never explains himself to me. It makes me think he chose to send me a message because he was afraid to tell me this face to face, and maybe he thought it was better in this way. Even if it was not a good decision, this message makes me think about the past and trying to figure out what happened. Moreover, his message made me get to know him better.
Assumption 3: Online discussions promote self-orientation.
As this assumption says, people communicate at their own convenience, because we have no physical proximity, we are not compelled to interact. This is exactly what happens on facebook you are not interacting face to face with people, and you are able to block people that you don’t want them to communicate with you. You can also choose to ignore people by logging out from Facebook chat and instead choose who to you want to be friends with or read your comments.

Assumption 4; self-disclosure occurs online.

As I said in the assumption 3, you can choose who can see your posts and your information and you can choose how much information you want to make public. There are people who just only have their name on his profile. However, others can share their lives on Facebook, which can include knowing about their religion, relationship, hobbies, address, telephone…etc. As I said all the range of information displayed is dependent upon each individuals personal preferences and level of comfortability.


Other Concepts

Screen Names:

On facebook you can fing a gran variability of screen names. One of them with real names and others not. A screen names can portray an image of you and you desided how you want people perceive you. You can know about their religion, hobbies, music.etc through a simply screen names ( Homosexual32, JulioIglesias45 ,catholic34, MusicForEveR89). Moreover you have to be REALLY carefully with your screen name because it can be offensive for another person.

Abbreviated language:

The new internet language has spread all over the world. New words have appeared as “blog and blogging” and abbreviations like “ Lol (laughs) Omg (O my God) or IDK (I don’t know). However these words provoke problems in our grammatical skills. We have to know when we can or cannot communicate with these words. You cannot e-mail a professor with this vocabulary or write a message to your parents because it wouldn’t be appropriate. Moreover you cannot use it with foreign people because they have their own slang and they don’t understand the American one. For Example, when I came here, a friend texted my using this kind of jargon and I couldn’t understand anything. Nowadays I know almost every word and I also write in this way to my Americans friends.