The time I spend in front of my laptop is plentiful. Combined with my phone calls, text messages and e-mails, I admit that my weekly schedule may be more or less consumed by technology. My roommate and I spent a relaxing Friday night watching TV and roaming the internet aimlessly. We got to thinking about how, in a neighborhood of brownstones and apartment complexes, if we didn't have such effortless access to entertainment/communication we would most likely be out having fun with our neighbors - or we might have at least MET one of them. It was rather disappointing.
Our conversation drifted into the subject of communicating via text and instant messaging. We thought about all the arguments we've had with boyfriends - confined to 140 characters on our cell phones. At an age where I should be developing some significant communication skills, I think I often rely on abbreviated phrases to get my emotions and points across. These scenarios are common... I think/hope. It has me wondering how advancements in technology can hinder the development of expressive communication skills.
As Piaget noted, cognitive development depends on a child's education and culture. In this circumstance I'm looking at the skills of people much older and advanced than those children. But I find similarities in several circumstances. In different cultures, children who aren't exposed to the necessary elements develope abilities for certain cognitive skills later than others, if at all. Is it relative to assume that a person who initially practices expressing their feelings through text/technology will be less skilled at communicating face-to-face?
1 comment:
I wonder about this too. It seams like our vocabulary is always dwindling in it's use as years go buy. Now people even just bring it down to letters. I do have to say that I have studied different types of children that grew up various ways. Some without barely a TV and who lived somewhere remote with just a larger family, others who grew up with more of a TV and video games but who lived in a non rural environment. They both seemed to function publicly and they could communicate. But the children who had less interaction with people outside of theit family had less communication skills.
It seems like we can still have good communication skills despite all the texting and abbreviations as long as we don't forget to use all of our other writing, talking, creative, and just human abilities we have. Like the saying goes, use it or loose it.
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