Fishing for Truth in a Sea of Information
Technology has the ability to both enhance and hinder relationships online.
Technology, and the Internet specifically, have granted the opportunity for people to view an infinite amount of things, some may say that it can be seen as a relatively new sea of information at the fingertips of many. Wikipedia.com has allowed the average person to view an immense encyclopedia; facebook.com and myspace.com have granted people their own personal “web space”, and college websites have given glimpses into specific college experiences. It is known that a certain amount of discretion has to be granted to what is read, but where can the line be drawn that shows if what is on the computer screen is a realistic depiction of the actual thing? How are people able to actually see the real person on facebook.com or the real university on a college web page? Do technological means equate with physical means?
To test this idea a similar question can be posed; compared to a university, is a person’s true “self” able to be depicted via Internet? I believe that this depends on the relationship between the people. Before leaving for college my mom and I talked each day, whether about important or trivial things. I assumed that coming to college would result in a lesser amount of communication with her, but the opposite has seemed to happen. My oh-so un-technological mom has learned how to access and use her e-mail account and also how to send both my sister and I messages daily. She still gives us hugs and kisses like she did at home, but now I read them as “I love you”, “ I miss you”, and “cheer up baby girl”; hearing her voice in my head when I read these parts of my emails makes the distance between us seem significantly shorter. Because of our previous relationship and closeness we know each other well enough that the “self” we portray technologically is the same that it would be on a personal level.
In contrast, someone walking in on a brand new situation might not have the needed personal connection. Once I was given my roommate assignment online for the fall semester we sent emails asking background information about each other. The amount and extent of the questions I asked Xiaohan in these emails though did not really give me a true depiction of her personality and character, the emails could not “be clarified by tone of voice and facial expression” like one on one conversation can (Tannen, p 13). I have now seen living with her for over a month parts of her true “self” that I did not see online, I have learned some of her Chinese customs, have seen her carefree attitude in day-to-day passing and have even learned about some of her favorite television shows. Being able to talk to her directly and to interact with her gives me a better understanding of who she is. The Internet and the emails did not give me a false sense of who she was, but rather an unrealistic and impersonal one that I needed to build upon.
The same idea of personal impact can be applied to a person searching for a college. They are impacted by images that they see and reviews that they read. The daunting amount of links seen on opening Case’s web-site give a clue to the reaches of the university, but the links that people click in turn choose what parts of the college they will see. Focusing on the “learning at Case” part of the website and disregarding or paying less attention to the “living at Case” aspect would result in a different view of the university. In a similar fashion with my emails to Xiaohan, seeing the university purely through the website will not give a realistic view of what it actually is. Without a previous personal experience, one cannot truly “see” the real university; words and links cannot replace the actual personal aspect needed.
My own perception of Case was impacted by a personal relationship, my sister. Caroline comes to Case also and had opinionated views during the time that I was selecting a college. At that time I was constantly asking her ideas on the dorm life, the food, the curriculum, and anything else that I was seeing online. Due to the close relationship that I have with my sister I gave more weight to how she saw these aspects of the university than any email I received or web site I visited. Not to say that I totally disregarded each statistic I saw, but the personal approach seemed more influential and realistic than any technological one. Being at Case now, I can see that some of my sister’s opinions, such as the comparison of Fribley’s food being superior to Leutner’s were accurate.
If a personal aspect must be present for a technological depiction to be true, basing decisions about the nature of things purely on technological means will not be sufficient. My relationships with my mom, Xiaohan, and with Case are based on direct personal experience, so the technological side of each of these that I see is actual. In contrast, someone with out this direct connection may have a skewed image of what some thing or some one actually is virtually. Case’s web site may give a plethora of information for people to view but the university cannot be “portrayed” unless this personal aspect is involved. Therefore, technological means do not equate with physical and personal means; it can enhance relationships between people and even colleges, but cannot be the sole reliance for deciding the true nature of these things.
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