Living In A Bubble

While reading the excerpts from Rettberg’s book I couldn’t help but to think about how much communication has changed in the last few years, whether that be for better of for worse. I feel like my generation is the group of people who experienced such rapid change in communication’s approach. As we are growing older, and becoming more knowledgeable in a particular medium, a new medium is introduced. As a result of the rapidly changing modes of communication, it seems as if the goal of communication is becoming blurred.

I remember in elementary school when reading out loud was encouraged in order to prepare students for silent reading in more advanced grades. Then in high school there was a lot of emphasis on leading class discussions and promoting group discussions. Today I do feel like this teaching method has carried over to university settings, but I don’t believe it’s practiced outside of academic institutions.

Students communicate two different ways: in the classroom and outside of the classroom. When in class there is a huge emphasis on participation and class discussion, building conversations off of one another’s comments and contributions. Outside of class, students communicate in a way that was never emphasized in academic institutions, so we must have just adapted as entertainment and other modes of communication emerged.

It’s as if we live inside of this bubble – where we are constantly contributing to our self-image and reputation through social media (ie: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) We are spying on other people – most of which we see on a daily basis, yet we never communicate with face to face. Those few people that we actually have strong relationships with, we never feel the need to check up on their social media websites.

Chapters 3 of Rettberg’s book made me question the so-called “communities” that we are apart of. It seems as if the communities that are located online are distancing us from the real world and real relationships, rather than acting as a supplement. 

Discussion Questions
1. Do you view this ever-changing method of communication as a positive or negative?

2. Think about some of the communities that you're involved in. What is the differentiating factors between the communities that take place physically and those that take place virtually?