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Becca McMullan Malcolm Campbell English 1102 7 February 2012 How has electronic communication affected real life communication for college students? Overview A topic I happen to find most intriguing would be how electronic communication has affected real life communication for college students. My research will focus on college students in my current generation and how advanced technologic communication has changed our society. I have many ideas that tie into this topic. The data I collect will relate to college students and the affects electronic communication has had. There are several web sites that have supported my thesis. In the Time Science section of Time Magazine, the writer mentioned that online communication has made it more difficult for people to trust others and remove personal interaction that is essential for trust. Social relationships are harder to retain. Those who isolate themselves are less likely to maintain eye contact and good posture when talking to employers. The University of Queensland, School of Psychology suggests that Facebook promotes jealousy between people in relationships and influences jealous behavior which may have an affect on future relationships amongst peers, like trust issues. The Epoch Times mentions that college students are more likely to text their friends about a problem and are less likely to make a personal visit to help them. Without the visual cues, emails and text messages can be confusing to read and hard to tell if they should be taken seriously or sarcastically. Students feel the need to respond to a text message right away and without an immediate response, they will spend over half the time over analyzing the

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meaning behind the non-response. Students have arguments through text messages, even though they admit it is much better to talk conflicts out in person. Text messaging and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have made it hard to show empathy for others. Recently, I watched a Youtube video where a girl committed suicide because of being harassed after sending a nude picture of herself from her phone to her boyfriend. Inquiry Questions(s) My topic proposal leads to other questions. Where are the emotions in a text message? Are you misreading something, overanalyzing the situation? Have you ever gotten into a fight through a text message and perhaps lost a friend because of it? What ever happened to talking problems out face to face and getting the real sense of emotions from the person with their body language and facial expressions that are not visible through the phone? Is that something you can get through a text message or like on a Facebook status? I intend to discuss downsides of being thrown into a world full of technology that has done more harm than good to our ability to communicate with others. My Interests in this Topic Constantly, I see people using their phones, texting or using Facebook. I want to know how this is affecting their relationships with other people. I chose this topic because it is something I know I can relate to. I have texted plenty of friends, good friends of mine and have gotten into arguments. Rather than talk them out in person, texting seems much more convenient. How have these text messages affected me? Well, I have lost a good friend of mine through text messaging. All we would do is fight and it was hard to tell if anything either of us said was either serious or just plain offensive. Whenever things would seem fine, we would start fighting again, sending each

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other several text messages at a time. They would get mixed up and it would be difficult to put them together and respond. It still haunts me to this day. Ever since then, we have not been able to get on good terms with each other. Both parties have yet to have contacted each other. Honestly, I wish we did talk things out face-to-face, even if our friendship would never last. I feel like I would have been able to understand what she had to say at the time and vice versa. Electronic communication has caused us more harm than good to our ability to communicate. Next Steps My research will range from a variety of sources. I intend to use Google and educational websites, journals and articles from the librarys database. Various sources may include Times Science of New York Times Magazine, Youtube, The Epoch Times and others. This project will provide me with a variety of different opinions from many people, and possibly change my way of thinking about electronic communication overall. How? We will have to wait and find out.

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McMullan: Your topic proposal was very well composed! As the generation that was first introduced to technology, your inquiry question is something we all can relate to. One thing that I would suggest is to do some research on the other side of the story, such as how technologies have linked the world together. Without technology, more specifically internet, families that are separated wouldnt be able to video chat or to share valuable memories through the web. It is just something to think about. Your topic proposal is great and keeps up the good work!

Summer