College students find ways of staying in contact with their contacts whether with email, phone, or instant messaging. How these students choose what media to use is an example of the Media Richness Theory. Based on communication patterns between the parent and child, the nature of the conversation, and other various situations along with media capabilities decide the type of technology used to bridge the distance.
Instance #1:
My mom and I communicate through email. It's quick. It gets to the point. I can bullet my words. No arguments about who said what when and how, question-answer. In this sense, the media richness theory applies because the lines of communication between my mother and I are unequivocal. Email is a form of "Leaner channel" as O'Sullivan states. In this case, I have "greater control over when and how to respond." My mom is more of a frequent contacter, with questions and concerns. Instead of getting 10 missed calls on my cell phone and an onslaught of questions, I can take my time and answer calmly. I am able to present myself to my mother on a more organized, calmer tone. I can also avoid showing my short temper. My mom chooses to email as well because she feels it is more direct, as opposed to when she talks. She can control the exact words she uses.
Instance #2:
With my father, however, I always call him. My father's English is not great. It's easier to express myself to him over the phone. Plus, the topics we discuss are just momentary thoughts and feelings. Talking over the phone is more expressive. This form of channel selection allows me to reveal much more thought and feeling to my father than simply with email or instant messaging. Most of all, speaking to my father over the phone satisfies my interaction strategy and impression management goals: to let my Dad know I miss him and that I'm doing fine. This form of media is a "richer channel" that is more credible, more effective in damage control, and give more feedback in terms of reactions. In this way, my Dad gets a better idea of what I'm truly feeling in how I respond, laugh, sigh, or talk.
For two similar interactions, I choose different channels to communicate based on the nature of my parents and equivocality of the situation (answering questions/tasks vs checkup/status report). This form of "ambiguity-clarity" dialectic that O'Sullivan refers to is very apparent between my Mom and Dad. With my Mom, I am more ambiguous in terms of my own situation, but the situation is clear. With my Dad, I attempt to clarify my own self and create openness, whereas the topic discussed is more ambiguous.
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1 comment:
I really enjoyed how you compared the difference in the way you choose to communicate with your mother and father. My mother always laughs at the fact that I can speak to her two to three times a day, whereas she only spoke to her mother once a week when in college. I sometimes find it easier to speak to my mother through instant message because I can say everything I need to, clarify myself, and then send the message through. I think that your experience could also fall in line with the media richness theory, in that you chose a leaner means of communication to speak to your mother because you just want to discuss things shortly with fewer cues and even less feedback. However, I imagine that it must get a little difficult to discuss the more ambiguous types of concerns your mother may have through e-mail since there is no direct response. According to the media richness theory, your experience with your father also makes sense because you are attempting to increase conversation and use as many of the cues that he will give you so that you can extend the equivocality of your discussion. It seems that your media selection definitely fit with the experiences that you hope to get out of them.
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