The concept of multi-tasking isn't new. Just ask any homemaker and you'll learn a lot about juggling many tasks at once. And, multi-tasking with media, that is watching TV while eating, for example, isn't terribly new either. That's why in the 50s they called it the TV dinner! What is relatively new, however, is multi-tasking with multiple media. I did a study that you can access here on this topic in 2005 that concluded:
"..eating is the most common activity followed by socializing, doing chores and dressing. Although it is speculative, this may indicate a shift toward more individualized or private consumption of media. One can imagine, for example, an individual alone in their bedroom where the television and computer are likely to be located eating while engaged in multiple media-centered activities. This study found that males are significantly more likely than females to use multiple media and to play video or computer games. However, females are likely to engage in physical activities or write while the television is on. Although there are gender differences regarding particular activities, it may be that both males and females are moving toward more solitary uses of multiple media."
The kind of isolation we experience that I describe in the study was echoed during our class discussion in which several students noted they sit around their dorms with their roommates, each with a laptop and the TV going in the background (sometimes the foreground - my study also delves into the issue of shifting attention back and forth between media). More important, they described a lack of direct communication that takes place between them. In class we expressed a kind of sadness regarding this shift away from the social toward the solitary. Interesting, I think, is that while males and females may engage in different sorts of multi-tasking with multiple media, there is little difference when it comes to the solitary nature of their experience.
What has all this wrought? A review in The Wall Street Journal (1/30/09, p. A11) of a new book, Snark, by David Denby, defines snark as "low, mean, annoying, philistine, dreadful, coarse, lazy, second-rate and slightly unclean language." Remember the snarky dialogue in the movie Juno? Snark is, in my opinion, a kind of short-hand utilized by those within an increasing smaller circle who "get it." From a cultural perspective, you are either "in" or you are "out" of the culture. I raise the specter of possibility that it could become a circle of one. Do I really want to blame the coarseness of our language on multi-tasking with multiple media? Perhaps that's going too far. But does it play a role? Perhaps.
The implications of the social isolation we are experiencing are great. As we lose our ability to speak to one another, social convention and etiquette with regard to social interaction goes by the way-side. What happens to a society that no longer knows how to communicate with one another in a direct manner? As one student in the class noted, there has been a significant increase in multi-tasking with multiple media since she came to college three years ago. It's difficult to imagine where the trend will take us and at what point the system begins to break down, causing some to participate in a backlash in which people begin to actually talk directly to one another, with civility.
image courtesy of: http://www.wordle.net/.
1 comment:
As I sat in class last Thursday listening to how my fellow students multi-task with multiple media, I started thinking about my own experiences with this. I also find myself sitting at my computer when my roommate, who is in the next room, will instant message or Facebook chat me. Most the time she asks, “What are you going to do for dinner?” I think to myself, is this really what our society has come too. We can’t even get up anymore and walk in the next room to talk to someone in person. I also thought of times when I am at home. If my mom is downstairs and I am in my room, instead of yelling for me or coming upstairs my mom actually picks up the phone and calls my cell phone. I mean is that really necessary? I feel like our relationships with each other are slowly moving apart. Today, with the advancements in technology, we as individuals have become so reliable on technology that we forget what it was like to live without it. It is sad to think that our relationships with each other are dying because of this.
Our society really is shifting into becoming a society where there is no longer direct communication. To me, I think this is horrible. One of the main reason I chose Communications, more specifically public relations, as my major was because I enjoy interacting with others. Public relations is all about building relationships with others by communicating. I could not imagine what it would be like to go through everyday life without direct communication with others. I think that talking with others, telling stories, listening to others opinions etc., are all important aspects of life that make each person who they are. I believe that we learn from our relationships with others. So therefore, without direct communication we loose our relationships which will eventually makes us loose our ability to learn. So to me, being able to communicate with others in a direct manner is very important.
Now, I am not getting down on the use of multiple media. I think that it is great how many ways there are today that individuals can interact with one another. For example, responding to one another’s blog’s. It is good that we are able to learn in such different ways. However, all I am trying to get at is that this multiple media can not take the place of direct communication. I am accused of multi-tasking with multiple media myself. I sit on the computer with the TV on in the background while I eat my dinner sometimes. I talk on the phone while sitting at the computer listening to music. I do it all. However, I try not to do this all the time.
After reading through the study stated above on multi-tasking and multiple media, I agree with the findings that suggest respondents do not find it easy. When individuals are engaged in simultaneous media they do not pay close attention to the programs. I found it interesting with the results that males are significantly more likely than females to use multiple media and to play video or computer games. However, females are likely to engage in physical activities or write while the television is on. I feel that these results are very accurate.
As time continues and technology keeps growing, I will be interested to see how as a society our communication with one another changes. I hope that this shift soon slows down as I am scared to think of what it would be like to live in a world without direct communication with one another. Thinking about this topic has really taught me how important it is to be able to interact with one another.
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