Since individuals use various forms of media each day, it is sometimes difficult to stop and examine how our individual media selection varies based on social context, message content, convenience, and several other factors. Reflecting upon my weekend media usage, two specific instances are particularly interesting to relate to O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model.
On Friday night I told two of my closest friends, Kathryn and Michelle, that I would let them know if I decided to go out in Collegetown (so that we could meet up). In the midst of getting ready and figuring out my plans, I completely forgot to call them and went out with some of my other friends. Towards the end of the night, I ran into Michelle on the street where she confronted me regarding the fact that I hadn’t called her. Although I tried to defend myself, I was caught off-guard and wasn’t really sure what to say in this face-to-face interaction. After we went our separate ways, I chose to send her a text message so that I could carefully select each word and get my message across clearly with greater control than I had in person. This supports O’Sullivan’s idea of interactional control, which focuses on the ability to control the timing and nature of information exchanged. In addition, this leaner channel served as a buffer, allowing me to apologize and admit that I was wrong, without being as “embarrassed” as I may have been in person.
Another instance in which I chose a communication medium for a particular purpose occurred on Saturday afternoon. Since one of my roommate’s birthdays is coming up, my other two roommates and I chipped in to buy her a present. I charged the gift to my credit card and therefore my other roommates owed me a portion of the money. Although I was sure I would get the money back, I didn’t want my friends to forget and wanted to be paid back as soon as possible. I chose to send the same IM to my roommates reminding them that they owed me money and to give me it whenever they got the chance. Even though I live down the hall from them, I chose to send an IM due to the symbolic meaning of the channel. O’Sullivan suggests that the symbolic meaning or the message conveyed by using a specific channel (rather than just the content of a message), may affect the channel one chooses to use. Instant messages are traditionally thought of as a casual way of speaking to one another and therefore seemed like an appropriate to send a casual reminder. If I would have taken that effort to go into each of their rooms and remind them about the money, it may have seemed like I was making a bigger deal out of it than I intended. Although I had the ability to speak to my friends face-to-face, I chose the leaner medium of IM in order to send my friends a symbolically casual reminder that they owed me money.
These media selection encounters I had this weekend support O’Sullivan’s theory, which suggests that in certain situations you may choose a rich or lean media based on the context of the message.
Comments:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/09/3-crazy-kids-and-their-newfangled.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/09/assignment-3-managing-my-media-2.html
1 comment:
Hi Alyssa. I liked your analysis of your media selection within the O’Sullivan theory, and think that they were dead-on. Especially of interest to me was how you preferred the text message to get in touch with your friend because it “served as a buffer”. One of the big plusses that text messaging has going for it is its ability to provide its user ample time to formulate just the right words or sentiment (as you recognize). By using text, you also made sure you were removed from any potential negative social feedback you might have gotten from your friend, which is a condition that O’Sullivan (2000) predicts we will seek out with negative message valence and a message locus on the self. Also, you observe that instant messaging is useful for delivering a sterner message in a way that is not seen as stern. I could not agree more that IM is a much better way to interact when one wants the mood of the conversation to be lighter than it would be in FTF interaction. Very nice post, I enjoyed reading it.
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