Our choices of social media shape our perceptions of events, issues, and people.

Question

Our choices of social media shape our perceptions of events, issues, and people. Cultural memberships influence the content of digital and online communication. Social media have altered how we perceive time and space. People tend to feel anonymous online, even when they have a name associated with their avatar. On the internet, computer mediated conversations lack body language, voice intonation, and other important nonverbal elements. Without these features, people are compelled to fill in the gaps with assumptions about the nonverbal elements. Read the following paragraph (taken from http://archives.obsus.com/obs/english/books/editinc/can_talk.htm; bottom of web page) about a flame war. For some reason, people become much more sensitive when they’re online, and they tend to blow things entirely out of proportion—for example, taking a couple of sentences originally meant to be humorous or sarcastic entirely the wrong way. It’s even worse if you’ve had a bad day and you’ve decided that “no one likes you” (we’ve all had those moments); you’re much more susceptible to misunderstanding messages. Once that happens, everything can go downhill quickly. Instead of asking for clarification (“You were kidding, weren’t you?”) or just ignoring it, many people—forgetting that they’re dealing with another human being on the other end—decide to defend themselves and tell the originator of the offending message exactly what they think of him or her. This outcome is what’s known in the business as a flame. If both sides begin insulting each other, it’s called a flame war (kind of like fighting fire with fire). These digital battles often erupt in “public” and can sometimes be very entertaining to the lurkers.”

Describe a situation online where you witnessed trolling and flaming. What was the situation? How were the comments handled? Do you think this same situation would have happened in a face-to-face environment? Why or why not? How can situations like this be minimized? Please use the terms for your text about social media and nonverbal and guidelines for improving nonverbal communication found in Chapter 5 to respond to this question. Your paper should be a 2-3 page paper citing specific examples and providing detailed analysis incorporation reading and textbook material. If outside sources are used, proper citation of the source should be included

MindTap Topics Covred in this Chapter opics Covered in this Chapter Defining Nonverbal Communication Principles of Nonverbal Communication Types of Nonverbal Communication Social Media and Nonverbal Use of Communication Guidelines for Improving Nonverbal Communication START… experiencing this chapter's topics with an online video! After studying this chapter, you should be able to .. Identify rules governing nonverbal communication in the context of your campus. Assess your own nonverbal communication. List examples of the nine types of nonverbal communication. Engage in dual perspective regarding use of communication in social média Apply this chapter's guidelines to strengthen your nonverbal communication MindTap "It's dangerous work-one wrong move and somebody can get killed," Chris Mason told me. It was a cool morning when Chris and his crew came to my home to remove a tree that had been damaged. The top third of the tree had broken, but it was still attached to the rest of the tree and was lodged in surrounding trees. Eric, the senior man on Chris's crew, was fitting himself into the harness as Chris and I spoke. Once secure, Eric raised his hand and Gary, the crane operator, began hoisting Eric upward. Eric secured a wire cable around the top portion of the tree, then ducked his chin slightly, and Gary lowered him 5 feet. At that level, Eric used his chainsaw to free the top portion of the tree. Just before he made the final cut, Eric braced his foot against the tree so he could kick out of the way in case the top portion ricocheted back. Gary saw this and began pulling the separated portion away from Eric. Eric rappelled down, twisted out of the harness, and joined Josh, another crew member, who had already begun cutting the downed portion of the tree READ... the complete chapter text in a rich interactive eBook! into smaller parts. Chris took the job of hauling the cut limbs to the shredder. Each time he reached for a cut limb, he first touched the back of Josh or Eric. "I have 134 Chapter 5 Copryrignt

Explanation / Answer

Trolling and flaming is a very common situation this days on social website. People feel anonymous online, although they have their own identity. Computer mediated conversations lack body language, voice intonation, and other important nonverbal elements and therefore people does not take a moment before hitting someone hard with their insensible and sometimes abisuve trolls. Current scenario on Twitter - An Indian cricketer posts a picture of his Muslim wife covered in Hijab and in no time was his tweets flooded with some very hateful comments from people of his community insulting him for posting his wife pictures as she is supposed to be kept under Burkha instead of being clicked and posted on social platform.

This very instance shows how insensitive the people sitting behind the social platform account could be. The cricketer and his wife was a victim of internet trolls although there was nothing wrong they have done.

The comments were handled in a very humorous and sensitive way by uploading the picture back again with the caption ''Kuch toh log kahenge logon ka kaam hai kehne but always #love#travel'', which means the people are supposed to say something because that is their only work and we love to travel.

The same situation would have never been encountered in face-to-face situation, as the people who were so quick in posting such hateful and negative comments would not have dare to speak the same to the cricketer or his wife , because 1st they hardly know him and his wife personally and would not like to speak in their private matters and 2ndly because such hateful and rude words can't be used if the other person is sensible and decent enough.

This type of situation can be minimized with the help of proper accountabilty of social platform and more cyber security. For example - Another celebrity in India was shammed just for raising her support for ban on Azaans in Masjid early morning. Instead of listening to her opinions , her tweets were filled in with harsh and abusive words and asking her how dare she reach/return back home at 4.40 am. The lady did not remain silent but instead reported the twitter account to Indian Police and strict actions were taken against the culprit as abusive someone with such harsh words are a crime.

The same situation would have nevwe happened had it been a face-to-face situation because then the culprit would actually think before abusing a women in public just because she entered her house at 4.40am, the situtation would be very different because then the culprit would know the victim in real and if sensitive enough would never knownigly throw such words on her face.

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