Electronic communication has been around for a long time, and I can’t deny how useful it is. Email, a term that was born with the personal computer in the late 20th century, gets a lot of use on Galahad; I know that I rely on it daily.
And yet I’m finally beginning to understand why Dr. Zimmer did not want us to carry personal communication devices on the ship. On Earth, nobody is ever alone, nobody is ever out of touch; just push a few buttons and you’re connected. I was convinced I would miss that on this mission.
Now, almost a year after launch, I realize that I haven’t thought about it in months. I have learned to rely on face-to-face communication…which I’m sure was Dr. Zimmer’s goal. We have email, and we have an intercom system. But the days of zapping an electronic message on the fly are over for us, and I’m pretty sure that our communication skills have improved because of it. If left up to us, would we have voluntarily abandoned our dependence on the old ’phones?’
This is not about condemning technology, or dreaming about returning to ’the good old days.’ It’s just an observation. On Galahad we usually are looking at the person we’re talking to; I have to believe that it helps us to better communicate with each other, and likely has eliminated a lot of misunderstandings. We have a healthy balance between electronic communicating and real personal conversation.
When we arrive at Eos I’m sure we’ll have the knowledge and tools necessary to once again take short cuts. The question is…should we?
(Okay, Galahad fans, now it’s your turn. Do you feel like your dependence on email and texting has hurt you - even a little bit - when it comes to communicating? What do you think Dr. Zimmer was really trying to accomplish? Do you think things should change when the crew arrives at Eos? Feel free to share your ideas and feedback on this journal entry from Triana, or any of the others found here on the Galahad Blog. Thanks!)
I think that cell phones and the internet that we use to communicate are
hurting us. when we can talk to someone 50 miles away we can say stuff that we
wouldn’t say to them face to face. Everything we say… they can’t do much
about but talk back. Then you can just hang up. You can’t just hang up on a
conversation to someone in front of you.
No I don’t feel that my dependence has ever hurt me, not even a single bit
while texting or emailing. Anyway I think Dr.Zimmer was really trying to
accomplish texting and e-mailing not being a big deal while on a ship with 251
teenagers that no one knows. I think things should change when the crew
arrives at Eos because they should be able to live their own lives they’ve
known before leaving Earth, so yeah I do think things should change for the
crew members on Eos.
Oddly, we were just talking about this same idea in my reading class last
week. We decided that there were some definite problems with communication
errors when people don’t talk face to face. It’s hard to pick up on humor and
sarcasm in a text or email.
We also talked about how not being face to face has changed how we
communicate. No longer do we have to be tactful and polite, we use telephones
and computers to hide behind while being rude. I think Dr. Zimmer was onto
something when he set up communication to be face to face on the ship. This
is something that many of us could benefit from in our daily lives.
It is good that you all have quick communication on Galahad through the
intercom for emergencies, but almost everything else is face to face.
I think that when people are using their phones and internet to communitate to
others, instead of face to face is really hurting us. We can say all this kind
of stuff when we’re on the phone or internet but when it comes to face to face
we all chicken out. This is not the way I think people should handle things.
Chatspeak is shoving primitive words into our mouths. Instead of adding an intelligent comment to a joke, people now say “LOL.” Instead of apologizing when we offend someone, we simply toss a “JK, JK!” over our shoulders. I’ve seen a half dozen of my friends get into spats because of something said over IM that offended one person but was harmless to another. I agree with Jen: “we use telephones and computers to hide behind while being rude,” even in our face-to-face conversations. This is a HUGE problem in our society, and I’m glad that the kids on Galahad have made it past that.