For this assignment, I chose to describe two instances of media selection. The first instance was when I decided to call home to tell my family about a long, terrible day when everything went wrong. I believe that my decision to call rather than text or email is a good example of the Media Richness Theory. When I decided to call home and let them know about my day, I made sure that my media was as rich as possible. I wanted them to share in every emotion and taste of the pain that I left from a day that started at 6am and didn’t end until 5am. I wanted them to hear the scratchiness of voice and my sleep deprived tone. I really had no motivation to correspond with them besides to make myself feel better and give them a quick laugh so efficiency was not a huge concern for me. Before I made the call, I made sure to wait until I was in an area with excellent Sprint service and that I had nothing significant to do that might distract me from my call.
Another instance when I chose my media was when I sent my friend a text during class. This instance supports the Media Richness Theory as well. This time efficiency was my top priority. We were both cramped in a packed lecture hall and were at opposite ends of the room. I could see my friend but I could not speak with him, given our distance apart. All I needed to know from him was what he was doing after lecture. The possible means of communication were limited at the time. I could call him but for the sake of being polite and not interrupting the class I would have had to get up and leave the room to make the call. He then would have to get up and leave the room to receive the call. If we both got up and left the room to use our phones, then we would both be in the hallway together and there would no longer be a need to call in the first place. I would then have to explain to him why I took time out of lecture to talk to him rather than wait until after lecture. Calling would be a time consuming process considering that all I wanted to know was a small blurb of information. With the efficiency of texting, I found out what my friend was doing in a couple of seconds.
I find that for my personal correspondence with others, efficiency usually takes precedence of most things and this in turn supports the Media Richness Theory.
3 comments:
Nice post, Mike. I agree that it seems for personal correspondence, efficiency is often the priority. I suppose it must have something to do with frequency of interaction. A communication between two people who don't generally interact as much is usually far more equivocal than one between two friends.
Looking at the locus and valence of your two media choices, I could be mistaken, but it sounds like there was negative emotional charge to your call home. The locus is clearly self. O'Sullivan would have probably guessed that you'd have chosen a leaner medium so that you could better regulate self-presentation, as he hypothesizes for a self locus, negative valence episode. Of course, the fact that you were calling home for support may well be considered positive.
Mike, I think your post presented two good examples of the media richness theory. Calling home to talk about a bad day is certainly a situation that would require a richer medium. If you were to simply text, "Mom and Dad, I had a bad day" there would be a lot of uncertainty in what caused your bad experience. I also think your second example raises a good point. In this situation, yelling across the room might have been more efficient considering it takes a shorter amount of time. However, considering this is inappropriate due to the classroom setting, I wonder how the Media Richness Theory would be applied to an situation where you are forced to use a leaner medium based on setting.
Mike, I found your first example very interesting. The richest media is face-to-face interaction but because you could not see your family you used the next best form of rich interaction, phone. I'm sorry you suffered from such a horrible day but I was very interested in reading how you wanted to talk to your family on the phone so that they can sympathesize and feel your pain. I believe it was an excellent choice for what you were looking to accomplish through your conversation. I'm sure you gave them a number of verbal cues about your emotions and the idea of message personalization from the media richness theory was probably present.
I also like your chosen media for your second example, texting. I frequently find myself in the same situation where my friend is sitting somewhere away from me and I want to know what he/she is doing after class. I tend to make lunch plans during some lectures and texting seems to be the best solution. In terms of time, it is efficient. Also, since you are still in lecture, the best possible solution is to text unless you wait until class ends to talk to your friend. All other options would most likely result with you interrupting your professor. Like the media richness theory says leaner media for less equivocal tasks.
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