Monitor your own use of digital communication for a full day, from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep. Look at your use of multiple modalities of communication throughout the day, such as the telephone, text messages, email, chat rooms, blogs, social media messaging, social media posting, and instant messaging.
What modes of communication did you use?
- Who did you communicate with?
- Was the communication professional or personal?
- How long did you communicate?
- What other activities did you have going on while communicating?
- What was your general emotional reaction to this mode of cyber communication?
- What advantages or disadvantages did you observe in your digital communication?
Explain what your most common reasons or motivations for using digital technology are.
- Was it difficult to balance your face-to-face and digital communication throughout the day? Do you feel that you need to have a better balance of digital and face-to-face communication? Why or why not?
- Which particular communication channels do you use most frequently and least frequently? Explain your response.
- When reflecting on your experiences, what changes would you like to implement regarding your own balance of face-to-face and cyber communication?
- In your experience, were there any instances where cyber etiquette could have made the communication more effective or enjoyable? Why or why not?
- Review the traits of “Networked Individualism” in Chapter 1 of Society and The Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives.
- To what extent have you experienced networked individualism? Provide specific examples where possible.
- Ch. 4, “Internet Cultures and Digital Inequalities,” describes 5 Internet cultures. Which of the 5 do you identify most with and why?
- E-Mersives
- Cyber-Savvy
- Conflicted socializers
- Cyber moderators
- Adigitals
