I'm starting off with a bang. Two posts in a day. One way I plan on using this blog is posting some of my school work. This is a small writing assignment for my qualitative methods course:
Why am I a communication scholar?
During the first few years of college I was very uncertain as to what I wanted to study. I had many varied interests ranging including literature, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. In many ways I was drawn to the social sciences but I couldn't decide on a particular field. Originally I saw communication as a compromise between these fields. Due to the large scope of communication phenomena, it seemed to draw upon many disciplines. I believe that this variety is what I found attractive about communication.
However, as I studied communication I found that it was inherently valuable as a field itself. First, the lower level skills classes helped me develop and hone social skills that have since served me well. Developing these skills has ultimately made me a happier person because I feel more capable of functioning in our complex social world. As I progressed through my program I was exposed to communication theory which helped provide me with several different frameworks for observing the social world, the media, and organizations. This larger, albiet incomplete and constantly shifting and growing, understanding of the world whetted my appetite for an education as a communication scholar. By developing research skills and learning ever more complex communication theory I hope to prepare myself to explore the questions that matter to me.
What topics do I care about?
I'm fascinated by the social world and I there are a few topics that I feel that it is imperative that I seek answers. Perhaps an overarching theme in the questions that I seek to address is this: How do individuals make meaningful connections with one another in a society that has become more and more fractured? We no longer belong to a society that never leaves home. People move across the country for jobs. We live in apartment buildings and may or may not know our neighbors. The sheer mass of people that we encounter in a typical day forces us to develop schemas that do not allow us to individuate people. How many people do we walk past in the street would have been our friends or our lovers if we had only stopped to talk?
It is because we live in fractured society that I think it is essential that we study HOW meaningful connections are made, and what happens as they grow. I am interested in how and when people choose to self-disclose particular pieces of information about themselves. I want to explore whether people use technologies such as the internet, which may alienate them from the social world, to build relationships online or to maintain and develop those intiated offline. I'm also fascinated by how people develop relationships that lack intimacy and sincerity. For example, what motivates people to participate in "Friends with benefits" relationships and how do they negotiate that relationship?
I can't list all the questions I want to answer. I guess that in itself says something.
Why am I a communication scholar?
During the first few years of college I was very uncertain as to what I wanted to study. I had many varied interests ranging including literature, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. In many ways I was drawn to the social sciences but I couldn't decide on a particular field. Originally I saw communication as a compromise between these fields. Due to the large scope of communication phenomena, it seemed to draw upon many disciplines. I believe that this variety is what I found attractive about communication.
However, as I studied communication I found that it was inherently valuable as a field itself. First, the lower level skills classes helped me develop and hone social skills that have since served me well. Developing these skills has ultimately made me a happier person because I feel more capable of functioning in our complex social world. As I progressed through my program I was exposed to communication theory which helped provide me with several different frameworks for observing the social world, the media, and organizations. This larger, albiet incomplete and constantly shifting and growing, understanding of the world whetted my appetite for an education as a communication scholar. By developing research skills and learning ever more complex communication theory I hope to prepare myself to explore the questions that matter to me.
What topics do I care about?
I'm fascinated by the social world and I there are a few topics that I feel that it is imperative that I seek answers. Perhaps an overarching theme in the questions that I seek to address is this: How do individuals make meaningful connections with one another in a society that has become more and more fractured? We no longer belong to a society that never leaves home. People move across the country for jobs. We live in apartment buildings and may or may not know our neighbors. The sheer mass of people that we encounter in a typical day forces us to develop schemas that do not allow us to individuate people. How many people do we walk past in the street would have been our friends or our lovers if we had only stopped to talk?
It is because we live in fractured society that I think it is essential that we study HOW meaningful connections are made, and what happens as they grow. I am interested in how and when people choose to self-disclose particular pieces of information about themselves. I want to explore whether people use technologies such as the internet, which may alienate them from the social world, to build relationships online or to maintain and develop those intiated offline. I'm also fascinated by how people develop relationships that lack intimacy and sincerity. For example, what motivates people to participate in "Friends with benefits" relationships and how do they negotiate that relationship?
I can't list all the questions I want to answer. I guess that in itself says something.
