12- A trip down memory lane

The internet is something that we surely take advantage of. My parents have told me on numerous occasions, that if us college students did not have the internet or a computer, we would not be able to function on a daily basis. I actually believe this is true. How are we submitting work for Comm 245? Simply, the internet, and features that it provides.

In 10 years, I believe the following theories/facets of this course will hold true:

a. Social Support- people are always looking for a convenient way to interact with others, and the internet is at almost everyone’s fingertips. People can gain support from the convenience of their own home which is convenient and mostly confidential

b. Fundamental Attribution Error- people will continue to believe that negativity or setbacks are due to situational occurrences, not due to personal traits or hardships

c. Hyperpersonal Model- this model by Professor Joe Walther is multifaceted and generalized enough into 5 steps that it can apply to the internet in 10-15 years. The parts of this model that will remain the strongest will be overattribution effect (as the internet becomes more involved and convoluted, people will believe that it has a greater affect on people’s actions), and behavioral confirmation (more online interaction allows people to believe that they believe in a certain way, due to increased interaction time online).

I believe that the following parts of Comm 245 will change, or have to be altered over time:

a. PIU- Problematic Internet Use will become much greater as people will be able to have the internet even more conveniently brought to them. Further, more corporations will advertise online, which will make the internet more addicting. A counter to this argument, is that more regulations will be put in place in order to prevent further PIU

b. SIP- it will take people even less time and effort to relate/understand information in CMC

In the future, as PDA’s and other handheld digital devices come about (which relate to CMC), people will have to deal with less interaction FtF. This will take a toll on one’s ability to interact, one he or she is in a FtF moment. Children growing up in such an era, could experience social/emotional problems because they do not have the social exposure to people. This will create an anti-social environment, dictated by how many friends one has on his/her handheld device. This is not a beneficial direction for a society that has been based on personal interaction for so long. If there are studies on PDA’s and text messaging, this should also be a focus of the class (if time permits). Text messaging has gotten to be a bit ridiculous, and replaces media richness such as phone calls.