Computer-Mediated Communication

Today I would like to write according to the title Computer-Mediated Communication. Computer-Mediated Communication which also known as the (CMC) is one of the way of people use for communication nowadays. They are use with the help of technology gadgets such as hand phones and computers. The examples of the CMC are MSN, facebook, Friendster, Email, 3G and so on. These programs are frequently use by human being to communicate almost everyday. The more advanced the gadgets are, the more frequent people use them to communicate.

Why do people prefer using CMC instead of using the old way for communication which is the face to face communication? There are actually some reasons. The reasons included it is easy to use, it is cheap, it is more convenient, it is more faster, you can speak to anyone at anytime and anywhere you want. I’m one of the examples who is using Computer-Mediated Communication everyday. The very good example would be my hand phone. Everyday I will use my hand phone to text messages to my friends asking them out when have break time, telling my family what time I will finish my class and so on. Other than that, I will also log in to my facebook and also MSN messenger in order to keep in touch with my old friends and also making new friends. For me, as a student with no income, the largest reason will be the cost, using all this CMC will be much cheaper. The second reason will mostly because when there is something which is hard to be tell face to face or its quite embarrassing when telling to others face to face, the CMC will be the best solution for this problem.

But there are also the disadvantages about using CMC .I had faced problems when using CMC too although it is very convenient to use. Example of the disadvantage will be the emotion problem. Just like a few days ago, I accidentally said something not good to my friend while we were texting each other using short messages service. My friend replied me with the word ‘grr…’. At that moment I can’t even know was she really angry or she was just playing with me. This is because I couldn’t look at her face expressions. I couldn’t interpret that was she really angry or just joking with me. This reminds me that when using CMC, we need to use words and sentences very carefully and beware of what we are talking. Because of cant interpreting others emotions and expressions, the meaning of our original information would be misunderstand by the people who we are trying to send out the information to, which we call the ambiguous in the principles of communication.

Lastly, I want to say that we must really beware when using the CMC. It is convenient but also could lead us to some misunderstanding.

Composed by Leong Shong Hon