Assignment #3, Managing My Media: 2 stories, 2 separate choices

When I checked my planner yesterday and realized that I wouldn’t be able to go to the Bills-Patriots game this year I was devastated. However, my own self-pity quickly faded into the background as I realized one of my friends had already bought the tickets with his money so that we could sit together. Not only would I have to break the news that I could not accompany him for an afternoon of grilling various animals during our pre-game tailgate session and chest painted debauchery in subzero temperatures during the game, but I had to let him know that he had to find some way to get rid of my ticket. All in all, despite this being one of my close friends, I felt very awkward about backing out of such an important event, especially because we had talked about it all throughout the summer. I got out my cell phone to break the news and dialed the number. But something stopped me from allowing the call to go through. After pausing for a few minutes to contemplate how to best put it, I opened up my phone and sent a text message.

Earlier this week, I went down to the gorges to enjoy the last rays of sunshine before Ithaca winter shrouds the campus in darkness. One of the people I was with fell and chipped her tooth on the rocks. It was one of the scariest moments I have had here at Cornell. She had to go to the hospital, and be carried out on a backboard. Later that day I received the news that she was in fact fine and just had to get some stitches. I knew that despite our constant reassurances to the contrary, she felt like she had ruined our day and was very embarrassed about slipping on the rocks. I wanted to contact her, but I didn’t want to force her to have the same conversation she was undoubtedly having with every one of her other friends. I was about to send her a text when I changed my mind and decided that regardless of my reservations, it was important that I call her.

The reason that I chose these two situations in which I was forced to make a media selection was that both were ambiguous. I find that when I want to ask someone to grab lunch at Ivy room while on campus, I sometimes text and sometimes call. Whatever I choose, I never spend any time thinking about which medium I will use, and certainly don’t see any secret psychological phenomenon that explains why I went with one over the other. However, in ambiguous situations, I always think just as hard about how I will communicate as I do about what I will say when I eventually do make contact. I found that my media selection choices were most consistent with O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model. In the first situation, where I had to let one of my friends know that he had to find another mentally insane person who would agree to stand outside in the snow without a shirt on for the greater part of 3 hours, I characterized it as a confession. The valance was negative and the locus was on myself. I therefore decided to use texting over a phone call in order to establish a buffer with a mediated medium of communication. In the second situation when I wanted to check on the condition of a friend, I characterize it as a ‘praise’ situation as it pertains to O’Sullivan’s model. The focus and purpose of the call was on her and while the topic may have not been cheery, it was certainly not an accusatory call. The concern that I wanted to show could not be conveyed using a text message or email. According to Media Richness Theory, because both situations were ambiguous, it would have been most efficient for me to use a mediated method in both situations. However, Daft and Lengel fail to take into account that communication is not analogous to running a competitive business; it’s not all about efficiency.

http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/09/assignment-3-posing.html

http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/09/lean-or-rich.html