Issue151 [OB小组] 第34次作业-pesticide-高速媒体削弱人们交流
ISSUE151 - "High-speed electronic communications media, such as electronic mail and television, tend to prevent meaningful and thoughtful communication."
In reasonably advanced technology world, electronic communication media is overwhelming with our daily life. Someone held that high-speed electronic communication media bring detrimental influence to our common communication. However, in my opinion, whether electronic communication media benefit us or not, depend on the specific electronic media.
It is unfair to totally deny the benefits electronic communication media had brought to us. In fact, some electronic communication media do not hinder the meaningful and thoughtful communication, but promote the effective communication. Take email for example, at present, there is a trend for email to replace with normal mail, and checking email everyday had become routine for most of us. For one thing, email does offer the basic function of normal mail. Writing in same words, the message including in the email can be understood the same as printing mail by receiver. Followed reply from the receiver, the idea and thought communication is successfully established between sender and receiver. The main difference between email and normal mail is that email is much more rapid than normal mail, which is high valued in modern society. Another advantage of email is that it can include other information, such as image and sound etc, which is complementary to words, even in some cases, it promote idea and thought communication when writing language is hard to understand. In short, some electronic communication help promote meaningful and thoughtful communication.
However, some other electronic communication media bring us more disadvantages rather than advantages. An obvious instance is television. Granted, television is a good information source, it manifest visual colorful world—the vivid images, melodious sounds to us. However, a prominent weakness can not be ignored, that is, lack of interaction. We are only a reactive receiver of myriad information, and we can not be a sender of information, and receive response. Unlike the email, due to lack of active interaction, the television itself can not be regarded as the meaningful and thoughtful communication way. Moreover, in fact, watching excessive television is a harmful life style and impedes our meaningful communication. In a close scrutiny of our television program, it is not overstated that our programs are overwhelming with advertisement, soap play, variety show and so on. These programs did not encompass something essential for life which has the power of eliciting idea; on the contrary, it drew our attention to some surface things which cater to our sensory organ rather than something inside. Indulging in watching television, people had become more and more unwilling to think; a more severe outcome, they tend to stay at home and reduce the meaningful and thoughtful communication with one another. Hence, too much immersion in some media such as television, keep us from meaningful and thoughtful communication.
Collectively, we should hold a comprehensive and dialectical vision, on the one hand, accept the effective electronic media which promote our communication; on the other hand, reduce the time we spend on less meaningful and thoughtful communication media.