Everything Changes

The recent death of Apple Company's CEO, Steve Jobs put the world in a standstill. He was one of the brains behind a majority of the equipment and gadgets that we use today that makes communication more convenient. Personally, I have never owned an Apple product, I just think that all of these companies have one goal :

"To make communication easier, more convenient, and cheaper too"

With the continuous innovations regarding cellphones, computers, notebooks, tablets, and the world wide web, I can honestly say that these companies are doing their jobs. They have provided the public ways to have better and even faster communication with loved one who live far away. Even in a third-world country like the Philippines, majority of the people own cellphones, hence we are tagged as the "texting capital of the world", just for the price of 1 peso you can send a message to a person who is a hundred kilometers away from you. I wonder what would be the situation now if media and communication didn't evolve and didn't innovate ? We might still be writing letters and sending them to the post office, earliest reply you can get is at least 3 weeks. 

It's not just about the evolution of media and communication it's evolution in a global scale.

This marks my last entry for a very productive semester in our Com11 class. Thank you to our awesome professor Sir Beaver ! Even his name sounds awesome too don't you agree ? He taught all of us these things that we had taken for granted before we had this class. He gave us the foundations that we must build in when we graduate and start working. Again, thank you to Sir Beaver, hope to see you around ! :)

Pyramid

Sometimes I feel that I’m still in my Sociology class during COM11. Terms such as cultural studies, false consciousness reminds me of it. In the cultural studies of communication it is said that there’s a class struggle between the elite and the working force of a nation, if you notice this isn’t just in communication because since time immemorial people coming from the lower class had always been looked down upon compared to people who belong to a higher social status. Everyone got used to the idea that people who are powerful and rich are on top while everyone else should be “contented” on the bottom, which is called “false consciousness”. People start accepting that this is the “natural” way of life and that they shouldn’t do anything about it. Maybe it’s wrong to say that it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have this because we too, have been used to this way of living.

                The sad thing in this is, a majority of people choose not to improve their lives ‘simply because they think that they’re already settled with their current status and because of this system, which also forms a social pyramid, the powerful and prestigious people control everyone, the working class have no other option but to follow. Eventhough a system like this exists, the media which is aware of this tries to change the way people think, they try to instill on the minds of people that they have a choice to improve and not accept the things that are happening now. 

Double Edged Sword

One of the topics that was recently discussed in our Communciation class was about Mass Media. Coincidentally, it was in tie with the presentation during our Sociology class 2 hours before which also tackled mass media.

From what I've learned, the things media shows creates streotypes. They generalize a group of people to have this particular trait that makes them identifiable, therefore stereotyped (i.e. BLACK people are perceived to be gangsters, troublemakers, a bunch of dangerous people or in other words - criminals) but if you look at the bigger picture only a handful of these kinds of people exhibit this. But the media chooses to show this to the public because it recognizes these kinds of people in society. Another thing mass media does is, it creates a trend which influences it's viewers. An example for this kind of effect is how the media portray's Lady Gaga. I'm sure that everyone is aware that her fashion sense is authentic, unique, extraordinary but can be downright weird and creepy but because she is mediated to the public, people had started imitating her.

Mass media in my opinion is a necessary global sector, they deliver viable information to the public, makes communication easier, provides entertainment and much more. To sum it up, what mass media has done is it has made our lives more convenient. But besides it's original goal, indirect effects to the public such as trendsetting and stereotyping has emerged.

Mass Media = A double edged sword.

MMORPG

In this entry I’m going to show you the PC gamer side of me. One of the topics that were discussed during the week was about Physical Symbols of organizations. The first thing that entered my mind were Online Games or commonly known as MMORPGs. For those who haven’t played an MMORPG before ... MMORPG stands for Massive(ly?) Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, it’s basically about creating a character who will roam around the online game world be it a fantasy, or sci-fi themed world slaying monsters, meeting new people, trading, engaging in battles with other people and so much more.

World of Warcraft - The most popular MMORPG in the market

 Since I was in elementary I’ve indulged myself in these kinds of games. Regarding the socialization side of these games, there are so called “Guilds” that can be formed with other people. These guilds are ranked according to their game progress, guilds in-game usually compete with one another, they have their own set of rules and requirements for new members and to identify them, each guild can put up a guild emblem. Guilds are pretty much like organizations in real life, they have symbols so that other players can identify them especially if they’re known in the game server.

A Guild in Ragnarok Online

                As an avid player of online games I’ve been recruited in a lot of high-ranked guilds. You can distinguish these kinds of guilds by the emblem they use, like a company logo you know which products are the best to purchase by their brand logo. When in a guild, other people expect you to abide by the rules that are made by the guild leader, you are expected to cooperate and respect other people too because you carry the name of your guild. Even if it’s only in the cyber world, people still need to follow some rules in the organization they are a part of.

Back in Highschool ...

... there were so many rules !

During the course of the week we discussed more in class the "rules" that are put into place in different institutions that we function in. In relation to the title of my blog, I remember that during highschool there were really many rules both written and rules which are not in the rulebook. Such as :

1. Make sure that your extra shirt is plain white. No designs, no anything. Just a plain shirt.
2. Forget your ID, go to the guidance office.
3. Your bangs touch your eyebrow, the #&^@&#^ CAT officer will cut it off and you get sent to the guidance office.
4. When wearing your PE uniform always tuck your shirt in your PE pants.
5. Always have a complete CAT uniform. No skinny jeans !

and for some unwritten rules :
1. Piss of your teacher and he'll take it personally. Thus, removing your access to the audio visual room which stores band equipment.
2. Court a girl, get sent to the guidance office. (If you're interested to know the story behind this, please don't hesitate to ask me.)
3. Be the kindest person to your teacher and you won't fail his/her subject.
4. When called during recitation, smile and the teacher won't mind if you don't know the answer.
5. If you have a gay teacher and you're a guy ... you won't fail.

I can keep on going, but I'll stop there.

These things make up the structure that is highschool (at least our highschool), it dictates how the students should act accordingly and are expected to follow the school policy. Rules are necessary for harmonious functioning of the organization. Everyone knows what is expected of them and they know what to do next. But, it can't be helped that sometimes people break rules.

Would you believe me if I told you that I had broken all these rules? I'll admit something to you guys, back then I was so good at using a "kodigo" during exams. Haha. I was such a rule breaker and a jackass before. Nevertheless, all that is gone. All that's left is the kind, innocent, soft-spoken Rico that you know. ;)

Again ?

One major thing that I picked up during our class lecture which was about "Adaptive Structuration Theory" is that the things we do make up one big cycle which we call "life". How often have you heard of people telling you "You'll get used to it" or in Filipino "Masasanay ka rin" and "Sanayan lang yan"? One instance is when something new arrives in our daily lives. Obviously we're not used to in encountering that something but as it is going to become a regular thing for us, we just have to incorporate it into our lifestyle or our daily routines.

I believe that having a daily routine is essential because the routine itself is a system which we follow. When we miss out on one thing that we regularly do it bugs us the whole day. It's kind of like a map in our daily life. For example, when we go to school the first thing we do is go to class then take our break go to class again then go home. It’s that simple. Eventually we get tired or we sometimes feel that it’s eating us, that we’re stuck in a rut in our daily lives that’s why we sometimes do things that lets us get away from it all. Like hanging out or having dinner with friends, going on a date with that special someone, partying, etc. But some people merge these “escapes” with their lifestyle adding yet another thing to their routines.

These routines will sooner or later change, when a certain person experiences a transition in his/her life such as going to college, getting a job, or being a new parent. It’s just a matter of adapting to the changes and slowly being comfortable with them.

I remember back in highschool, we go to class at 7:30am and we end at 5:30pm, every single day. All of us had the same 1 hour lunch break and the 20 minutes recess break. When we get dismissed, we hang out in the school corridors or in the school grounds. It was the same thing over and over again. No one complained, because it was the system (The 7:30am-5:30pm), you have no choice but to follow or else there will be consequences. At first, it was very uncomfortable and very irritable to be seated the whole day in class. But sooner or later, we got used to it --- we adapted to it.

Before I end my blog I’m going to share my daily schedule. ;)

MWF                                                                                      

7:30 am – 11:30 am: School                        

11:30 am – 1:00 pm: Gym

1:00 pm – 5:00 pm: Time w/her

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm: HWs

7:00 pm – 8: 00 pm: Dinner and Shower

8:00 pm – 11:00 pm: Studying

11:00pm – 5:30 am: Sleep

TTh

7:30 am – 10:00 am: School

10:00 am – 11:00 am: Jogging

11:00 am – 6:00 pm: Rest/Reading/Studying

6:00pm – 9:00 pm: Night Class (Thursdays)

9:00pm – 10:00pm: Dinner and Shower

10:00pm – 11:00pm: Read

11:00pm – 7:30am: Sleep

… and that’s my daily schedule. Repetitive right ? But I like it that way. It gives me direction, and it tells me what should I do next.

Yes ! Group Work!

Groupthink for me is a collaboration of multiple minds in one particular subject. It's like the group works or group projects we have in school. I for one, personally enjoy having this kinds of experiences because I learn from my group mates, I acquire new ideas from them, and more. It's not simply of pitching in idea after idea after idea, but it's also a matter of learning from others. Sometimes, it's difficult for someone to share their own idea because of two things :

1.) He/she is afraid of being judged by his/her peers. Therefore he/she remains silent and just nods along. Knowing deep inside that his/her idea is tenfolds better than the group agreed on.
2.) So we can finish quickly and go home.

There's more, another reason that I enjoy working in groups is, you gain friends. People that had been randomly grouped with you, you get to know them. There's also the opportunity to practice leadership and people skilsl while in a group.

On a kind of a negative note, one thing I like about groups is, you can sometimes just rely on others to do the work and then you still get a good grade come submission. Haha. Kidding aside, these things for me are just some that I take notice in when I experience groupthink. :)

Hi Miss ... :>

This week’s topics were very interesting one was the “Uncertainty Reduction Theory” in which both persons aim in a conversation is to decrease that awkwardness between them conversing and finding some common thing to talk about. Another theory that was discussed was the “Social Exchange Theory” which is weighing the “costs” and “rewards” of a person’s relationship with someone. Honestly, I really find our Communication class very interesting and also, sorry if I always come in late in class. When my 9:30-10:20 class ends in Sec C I always pass by the school chapel before going to the Social Sciences Building.

Anyway, on topic, first off is the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. I’m not a great conversationalist especially when meeting new people. Of course there’s the usual “What’s your name?”, “What’s your course”, “Where are you from”, etc … which are all cliché’s in a “meeting-someone-new conversation”. But after all those questions, what happens next? That’s where the Uncertainty Reduction Theory comes in, we try to find a topic in which the both of us (the speaker and the one being talked to) have common ground thus advancing their conversation. Usually, there’s just this awkward silence after all those intro questions.

Now, I’m going to share a story regarding Uncertainty Reduction Theory …
Since elementary I had been shy when talking to girls especially if I have a crush on that girl. Some might be wondering how I got in a “relationship” back then or to put it during those times an “M.U” or Mutual Understanding, what I did back then was to do everything online; Friendster which was still popular back then and also Yahoo Messenger. I know, it’s really crappy right? Oh and also, I also used text messaging. I find it easier for me to express myself through those things because when you say something there’s no way to see the other person’s reaction to what you just said. I was afraid of rejection back then, I was afraid that I might say something that I might upset the person. In other words, there was always this HUGE UNCERTAINTY that lingered with me to whoever girl I talked to. After the third girl left me I thought to myself “Enough of love”. I didn’t know back then that what I was feeling wasn’t love. It was just some mere pre-adolescent-feeling-for-the-opposite-sex.

Summer came, it was before senior year. As part of the student council I was one of the organizers and group facilitators in our annual school “Leadership Training Program”. I was still devastated at the breakup that happened before summer and that girl who broke up with me was an attendee of the event, so even if I didn’t want to … I was going to see her. Anyway, I met another girl in the said event, we were just friends during the 3-day seminar but I found myself slowly falling for her. When that happened I was afraid of the possibility of another girl leaving me. I later told her about what I was feeling about her; surprisingly I also found out that she felt the same for me. I just told you how I met the girl of my dreams. It has been almost two and a half years that I know her and we’ve been together for more than a year. Here’s where the Social Exchange Theory comes into play. Earlier on in the relationship we usually had disagreements, misunderstandings, and all those usual stuff that couples go through. During those times I find myself weighing out the Pros and Cons of my relationship, I thought of things like "Is she the one?", "Am I ready for this?", "Is this what I really want?", "What happens if this girl leaves me too?".  In the end I decided that I will stick to it and find out for myself what will happen in the end. These theories play an important role in the bonds that we form with other people who we may not know, they maybe our future wife, husband, business partner … etc.

Here’s the end of my blog entry. I thank you for your time reading it. See you! :)

P.S

Here's a pic of us about 2 years ago. (Btw, regarding the "Hair Wax" blog entry of mine last week. Do compare. haha.)




And this was just taken last March.

Hair Wax

When I first heard of the cognitive dissonance theory, I associated it with the term "bad influence". Doing something against your beliefs - beliefs which you think are right. It exactly sounds like bad influence right ? Another thing I can associate with it is peer pressure or being forced to do something you don't like.

When I was in highschool, I always got nagged by my girl classmates that I should style my hair, apply wax or gel on it. There was even a time, when they disturbed another class just to ask for hair gel so they can use it on me. I don't know if this counts as Cognitive Dissonance though, but I had in my mind that when I used hair wax I would be bald because of all the chemicals in it, and I was scared of being bald. Both of my grandpa's were bald so I kind of knew that someday, it would happen to me. 

Four years in highschool and I never used hair gel or hair wax save for Graduation Day. 

When I entered college, I thought that, "Hey, maybe I ought to try using those kinds of hair products since I'm older now and it's a fresh start". Long story short, now I can't leave our house without fixing my hair and also I have this habit of mine that I find irritating: Every time I pass by a mirror or an object that gives out a reflection of me I always tend to look then fix my hair.

What happened was, in the end I realized that this new look gave me a little bit of self confidence and also, when me and my highschool classmates have a get-together I always overhear the girls whispering about me like "Ang gwapo ni Rico" and stuff like that. Low it may seem, but hearing those kinds of things can give a guy confidence and may also make his day when he's having a bad one.

Here’s another example, which I is also from my own experience …

Before junior year I was enrolled in a swimming class because I didn't know how to swim. Honestly, I'm afraid of swimming in deep water. If the water is above my head level then I raise the white flag, heck I won't even go in the pool. But my mother insisted and kept on nagging me to attend classes. I never finished the two-week course because fear got the better of me. Something which I kind of regretted, because I didn't learn how to swim properly or even go underwater without goggles on. This is one of the reasons why I rarely go to summer outings with friends.

These examples, could have benefited me both except for the last one. If I had just endured it then some things would be different now. What I can say is going against your beliefs can be sometimes a good or a bad thing depending on the decisions that you’ll make. Then again we have our own opinion in different matters say drinking or smoking. Some people say drinking is bad, some say it’s just “social drinking” and some just enjoy drinking excessive amounts then getting drunk. Depending on your peers, whether you’re in one of these “sides”, you can be the person that abstains from drinking, and tells his/her peers that alcohol is bad but because of “Cognitive Dissonance” may sooner or later “try” drinking alcohol.

There's always a reward at the end of every change you make. No matter how painful, tiring, and awkward it may seem at first, it's all worth it in the long run, but also do remember that sometimes there are consequences depending on what you've chosen. 

Here's to the end of this entry, I hope that I got my thoughts clear this time. Thank you for time reading and please do leave a comment! :)

*gestures hand in a "come here" motion*

Honestly, I'm now slowly finding that Communication is very interesting.

To what some people read in my previous post, I was saying there that it was ... what's the right word ... honestly, I thought that the idea that people had came up with theories for Communication was ridiculous and even shocking. I now take back what I said. Learning more about the topic I experienced a paradigm shift





I realized that just like any everyday object or occurrence, Communication too also had it's origins, and explanations. In every conversation we have, all aspects in it have their own label or names. One interesting thing is this "Field-of-experience", which is the experience we bring in to every conversation we have. Experiences, which may be from past conversations or rather things we talk about with another person (a.k.a "Interests/hobbies/etc.) . Or may be, how we should react to different conversations with different people, an example is whether or not we should ask more personal questions to someone or not. In this so-called "field-of-experience", if we had bad experiences in the past regarding asking personal questions then the ideal thing to do is not to ask about them. Before we started studying "Communication", obviously we all know this but not their technical terms which I just found really amazing.

It's like during highschool and elementary, before we even knew the term "Jejemon", we couldn't brand these kinds of people but when the term came out, it felt really exhilarating to finally have a label for these kinds of people. Same thing with what we learned during the week, every object in communicating with someone has a label.

Moving on to non verbal codes, when I greet someone I either "nod" my head or wave my hand and also give the occasional high-five. Earlier this day, I was with my girlfriend and because she wasn't able to go earlier than expected I saw her stomp her feet, flail her hands then she hit my arm. Non verbal coding is indeed everywhere (and it's also painful sometimes), we see it, we do it, but we don't know that we're exactly doing it because it's kind of automatic. I always though that non verbal codes were only hand signals but turns out it wasn't limited to that.

I'm thinking of something though, I'm not sure if it's a non verbal signal though. I'll give you a hint, this is only applicable to guys. When you see a hot/sexy girl, and you feel "something" *wink* *wink*
, is that considered a non-verbal signal that the girl is sending ? I bet this made you think. :>

 

So here are some more examples of non-verbal codes :


"The okay sign"


"The 'ROCK!' sign"


This is pretty self explanatory

Btw, that's not my hand.

Anyway, this ends my blog entry. Because of that paradigm shift, I had more appreciation for the subject. I really find it fun and interesting to learn new things that we see and experience in our everyday lives.

PS. You may notice that this entry is kind of all messed up. I know that. Due to lack of preparation, I wasn't able to organize my thoughts very well. I'll make up for it next week. I swear.

Credits to PHOTOBUCKET for the images. :)

Now Playing : Overthinking - RK

One consistent thought that didn't go out of my head for the whole week, when the lesson began, was

How people before can think of a deeper meaning and even come up with theories in this something we call 'Communication', which is also basically talking or speaking to people. It was simply thought-provoking, it was like over thinking about that particular subject.

At one point I even thought "Were the people bored during the time they thought of that?" Haha. Kidding aside. It's remarkable, at least for me, when people see a deeper meaning to things that we usually take for granted.

Be honest, a majority of us takes "Communication", not the subject but the concept itself,  for granted, right? Because before we started taking up Com11 Class, communication to us was literally talking to other people, speaking on the phone, etc. In class there were even some technical terms such as "Transmitter", "Channel", "Destination", and even "The Mathematical Theory". I believe that we were already applying them subconsciously because when we speak with another person we don't think of ourselves as "Sources", we don't call the thing that we are going to say as the "Message" and we don't refer to the person we are speaking to as the "Destination". What happens is we think of ourselves as the person who has "Gossip" or has a "Joke" or "Story", we refer to the "Destination" as our "Friend, Classmate, Girlfriend, etc ... ".

Gossip/Joke/Story - Message
Friend/Classmate/GF - Destination

See? We use them, but we don't call them by their given name. Anyway, this ends my third entry here in my blog. It's short, but I poured all my thoughts, regarding the lessons this week, here in this entry.

Now Playing : Life and Love and Why

Here goes ... my first attempt at this blog. This is about the lessons that were discussed this week. Since the things that were taken up are terms, what I'm going to do is write the term, it's definition which was presented by the teacher and then after I'll give my insights, comments, etc. Okay? Okay!

Let's begin. (I'm taking notes from my notebook, so if I miss something, sorry :( )

1. Intrapersonal - Communication with one's self.

 My thoughts/understanding : For me, it's an understanding of one's self, and also knowing your strengths and weaknesses. I've encountered a lot of text saying that people who are quiet, prefers to be alone are "intra personal people". Personally, I'm one of them. I'm more of a "me" person rather than an "us" person. Of course I do get along with other people, I have groups of friends, it's just that I'm more comfortable with being alone or better yet with someone special to me. (More on that later.)

2. Interpersonal - Communication between people; face-to-face communication

My thoughts/understanding : Here's something which I'm not really good at. Interpersonal communication, I feel that I suck at this aspect because for me interpersonal means that in your first meeting with new people you can immediately feel at ease with them when talking. There's no awkward silence after you ask each other's names, what school you go into, what major are you taking, what's your job, etc. You know something which is difficult here in Ateneo? Sometimes, it's hard to find a common ground when talking with someone especially if that someone came from an exclusive Manila school and the other speaker came from the province. People have different backgrounds, and usually people who have the same background are the ones who get along pretty well. I've encountered lots of people who I had a difficult time in talking to because there was nothing in common between us and there were times that you had the confidence of talking to them but they weren't interested to talk to you because they felt they were superior to you because they own their own car and you don't have one for yourself.

These are personal encounters by the way. That's why I feel that my interpersonal side is not well-developed. But in other cases, I can be a fun guy to talk to when a particular person has become close to me. An example is my girlfriend, here in school I'm usually a quiet person but when with someone I'm really close to, like her, I tend to talk --- a lot. Another example is my mom. "Selective Interpersonal-ism" if you may.

3. Group Communication - communication  among a group of people.

My thoughts/understanding : Much like Interpersonal Communication; Group Communication focuses on a particular group of people in which the persona belongs to unlike Interpersonal Communication which to my understanding focuses on every person.

4. Organizational Communication - Communication within and among large and extended environments that are goal and process - oriented.

My thoughts/understanding : This is really interesting for me, and I'm also excited that we're taking this up in class. It's more for business, and to develop managerial skills.

5. Public Communication - Communication to a large group of listeners.

My thoughts/understanding : I think this communication skill also branches out from Interpersonal Communication because it also deals with communication with different kinds of people but in a more organized scale. I usually relate "Public Communication" with speeches, politicians, mass, etc. For me, in this type of communication one should consider the crowd they're speaking to so they can gauge words they will use.

and then there's Mass Communication, which all of us are familiar with, this one is related to media and  Intercultural Communication, which tackles communication with people with different cultures.

Communication is really a major part of our lives, we use it to obviously, communicate with each other, understand one another and share information.The Communication Industry is also booming here in the Philippines. Media, print, IT, communication is literally everywhere.

As you may had noticed, what I wrote got shorter and shorter, because, honestly, I can't think of something to put or relate in there. The two major things for me that I poured my thoughts into were Intrapersonal and Interpersonal communication. Because these two strike me the most and had a really major impact in my life.

This is the end of my first "official" blog entry. Hopefully, it's good and acceptable.

One last thing, the title is not related to the blog entry itself. I just type in the name of the song that is currently playing when I'm done with my blog. This is a blog after all.

If you have a comment or suggestion, don't be shy. :)

Now playing : "Intro" by HU

Hello to whoever is reading this entry right now. This is merely an introduction, as the title says, of the things to come here. I made this blog for our "post-a-blog-entry-every-week" in our Communications class. This is a blog after all so I might stray from the "required points". Besides from the usual stuff, the things which we are required to write about like class discussions I MIGHT also put in some personal and random stuff that might be, in one way or another related or not to the class discussion of that particular week.

Anyway ... time to start this blog. :)