At the start of this semester, Communication/Journalism   professor Jim Trammell asked his Broadcasting: History and Development class to attempt to avoid any and all electronic and digital media for 24 hours; this meant no television, no Internet (no MySpace or Facebook), no Instant Messenger, no iPods, no radios, no DVDS, no e-mail and no cell phones.

“When he (Trammell) first gave the assignment, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to do it,” said junior Lisa Famiglietti, who is taking the class.  “I lasted six hours before checking my e-mail.”ammell explained that the purpose of the assignment was not to make his students’ lives difficult, but to show them that humans survived hundreds of years without the technology we have today.

“Is it hard? Yes, but it’s possible to survive without cell phones and the Internet,” Trammel said. “Students think they need this technology, but they don’t. They want it.”want it.”

Trammell explained that today’s society is so saturated with media that students do not know how to survive without it.  He further explained that students are addicted to e-mail, instant messenger, and other forms of online interaction.

“Society plays a big role in the expectations of media and media usage,” Trammell said.

It is with these expectations that people use their selective processes to acknowledge and interrupt media.

Communication/Journalism professor Kelly McCormick-Sullivan explains that we as humans use selective processes to filter out and ignore messages we do not feel are relevant to our needs and wants.

“In new media messages there are so many stimuli, it is hard for us to process everything,” McCormick-Sullivan said. “So we focus on the messages that have relevance to us and our lives while ignoring the rest.”

McCormick-Sullivan explains that this is done subconsciously.

Technology in Education

Library Director Melissa Jadlos believes that there is a time and place for technology when it comes to school and research. 

“With all the information now available online, research is easier to conduct,” Jadlos said. “The information found online was available before.  It was just a little harder to find and more time consuming.”

According to the Lavery Library 2006 database overview, the use of search engines have drastically increased in just three years.  ProQuest alone has increased from 42,667 searches in the 2003-2004 school year to an astounding 138,720 searches last year.

The Internet makes information from all over the world more accessible. People are able to share information with one another from Africa to California to Australia.  It is even possible to chat with a reference librarian 24/7 to help with research.

Turnitin.com is another website that has created some controversy.  Professors all over the world use the site to catch students who plagiarize, intentionally or unintentionally.

Jadlos believes that the website should also be used as a teaching tool, not just used for punishment.

“Turnitin.com should be used in a constructive way.  A lot of times when students plagiarize they have no idea they are doing it,” said Jadlos.

Jadlos feels that the site should be used to allow students to see if they are plagiarizing so that they can go back and learn to properly cite information within their papers.

Jadlos also touched on how students have different expectations when it comes to how they receive information. Students are now used to being able to information at any given moment.  Constantly updated websites have made these expectations so high.

The extinction of the card catalog is another issue that has come with the development of the Internet.  Thanks to the Internet, people now have greater access to more information, books, and articles. Internet search engines have made it easier for students to find better information and books in a shorter amount of time.

Repercussions

“Since I got my cell phone I can contact everyone whenever I need them, especially being at college it’s very easy to keep in touch with my family,” said sophomore Alyssa MacLachlan. “If I didn’t have it I would feel like I was cut off from the world and that nobody could reach me.”

According to research released in May 2005 by Informa Telecoms & Media, over 1.8 billion people worldwide have a cell phone and that number was expected to climb to over 2 billion by 2006. In fact, many American families have now gotten rid of their “land line” phones and rely solely on cell phones.

“I rarely use regular phones anymore,” said junior Ryan Miller. “I pretty much always use my cell phone when I need to call someone.”

Along with the expansive use of cell phones, instant messenger has made a huge impact on communication. While new technological improvements has made lives easier, are they always beneficial?

Face-to-face communication is becoming more and more a thing of the past, as business and personal communication is increasingly  conducted online.  With that change in communication comes a breakdown in the clarity of what people are trying to communicate.

“There is an increased frequency of communication, but people lose out on the non-verbal signals of face-to-face communication, using emoticons  is not enough” said Psychology Professor Tim Franz. Emoticons are graphics, such as a smiley face, that represent specific emotions.

Not only should students be worried about what they miss out on face-to-face communication, students also need to be wary of overuse.

“The new technologies need to be used in moderation. If people use it for scheduling, it makes sense, but if it is how you spend your Saturday night then it is a danger because you lose out on a lot without the face-to-face interaction,” said Communication/Journalism professor Jeremy Sarachan. “Because the option is there to communicate differently, people take advantage of it and do not think about what they are missing out on.”

Many college-aged students spend hours on the Internet; in fact, many are always logged onto some form of internet communication, checking away messages and chatting with friends.

“I am basically always logged onto AIM because I like to be able to see what everyone is up to and it is how I keep in touch with people back home,” said freshman Alyssa Kludt.

While the Internet is increasing  some aspects of communication, it causes a huge distraction for many people and makes it harder for students to focus on their tasks.

“Recent psychological studies show that dual processes distract people, it is much better to keep it to a single process especially when trying to study,” said Dr. Franz.

While cell phones and instant messenger have changed the way we communicate, the iPod has also created some waves in the world of academia.

In a Newsweek article, Peg Tyre discusses the new trend that is hitting college campuses around the country at schools including Duke, Stanford, and RIT. This new trend is the introduction of the podcast lecture. Students can now skip classes and simply download the lecture on iTunes and transfer it to their iPods, but is this really beneficial to students?

“You miss out on a lot if you skip the classroom experience. Students won’t get the benefit of the classroom,” said Franz. “When you are face to face, it is required for you to be more engaged.”

According to the Newsweek article, parents are worried these podcasts may turn off studentsfrom attending classes, but some students suggested they would use it as additional class material, not as a substitution for the class itself.

“I would probably still go to class, but I would definitely download the lectures because it would be a great tool to help me study,” said sophomore Chris Milazzo.

While Fisher does not have the podcast program, students can use the Blackboard computer system to download PowerPoint lectures,  to communicate with professors, and even to have class discussions.

“I used Blackboard almost as a blog last semester for discussion boards to talk about things that we covered in class,” said senior Stacey Gable. “The discussion board was nice because you could see the whole class’ perspectives on things. It is also nice that we can get articles and PowerPoints on Blackboard so the attachments don’t take up space in our web mail.”

The newest innovations over the past few years have completely changed the way we function. But when it comes to these new technologies, moderation is key.

According to Sarachan, “It is hard to fight the temptation, and you can become overwhelmed with information, but if you have faith in people’s willpower, then there are fewer downsides to having technology so readily available.”

By Adriana Delibert, Melissa Mosgeller and Megan Baker
Email addresses:
asd06658@sjfc.edu
msm6360@sjfc.edu
mnb00314@sjfc.edu