Final Blog

This semester in, Introduction to Communication Studies, has been a journey for me. I began this class by not knowing what I was going to learn. In my head I thought, “Introduction to communication studies… that’ll be easy!”, but oh how I was wrong.  Quickly I learned that this was going to be a class full of constant learning and application. After diving into the first few theories of our book I was somewhat lost. I became uninterested in the material because I couldn’t understand what I was learning in class. Before I got to far I knew that I needed to pull it together and figure out what to do. That is where I joined a study group to get back on track with the class and my grades. After learning about these theories in words that were more understandable to me, it opened my eyes to what was actually being taught. We were learning about theories that related to real life problems, issues, and experiences. Ever since then I started to look at theories with a new light. I seen the importance and relevance they had in my everyday life and started to see where they fit in for me. Every activity and project from that point forward became easier and easier for me to understand because I had a new viewpoint. I no longer seen this as something I was not going to benefit from, but rather something that could change my life. From this class journey I learned that I can accomplish that I set my mind to. The most important thing is to not give up, but also ask for help when needed. At times I become afraid to ask for it because I don’t want to sound stupid, but that’s not the case at all, that is what my teachers and peer are here for. For us all help each other out in understanding the goal of the class. If I were to choose a word to define myself it would be determined. This is because once I put my efforts towards something I want to accomplish, I know that it will get done.

In terms of where I see myself on the map of communication studies I believe that I see myself in the same place that I did in the beginning of the semester. I see myself as an interpretivist, which believes multiple meanings to be true. Especially learning what I did over the course of this semester I believe that it opened up my mind to think more meanings can be true based on the situation. It has caused me to become more open minded and eager to learn.

Learning about theories and their application to real life experiences throughout the course of this semester has grown my interest into the area of communication studies. One experience in particular that I had which was huge for my life this semester was beginning at San Jose State. Life changes dramatically when you move from a community college to a four-year university. When beginning my journey of declaring communication studies as a major in community college, I found it difficult to turn to someone for advice. I was fortunate enough to be able to find a select few teachers who could help steer me in the right direction, but nothing that seemed like a foundation for me to build on. I started by taking a few classes at my community college, but didn’t know what to expect transferring to a university with a department specifically geared towards communication studies. I can confidently say as my first semester is coming to a close, my interest and passion in communication studies has grown tremendously. I am able to see the importance of this major in a whole new light and am excited to continue my voyage towards a degree in communication studies.

One theory that I leaned about this semester that I think firs particularly well with my life right now would be constructivism. Constructivism is a theory which states that people create meaning of the world through the individual constructs that they place over reality. To me these are similar to glasses. We know that there is a huge reality out there with different meaning, symbols, and so forth. But the way that we develop things to have meaning in life is due to the glasses that we wear on a daily basis. The more that you experience and personalities that you come across in life make you have more glasses to see the world, meaning you have a better understanding of people and situations. The deeper understanding of reality and personalities you have due to different experiences in life makes you more cognitive complex.

Throughout this semester starting at San Jose State I feel like I have learned a lot about different people and situations due to the experiences that I have had. These experiences include school, meeting new friends, and adapting to a completely new environment. I believe that when I was at a community college the lenses that I fit over reality were small. I didn’t understand why people did things or acted certain ways because I wasn’t adapted to change. Since being at San Jose State I feel as if I have learned a lot from people and experiences which had made me more cognitive complex. Being able to understand situations and people better changed my meaning I applied to things and the way that I see the world. I am so thankful for what I learned because it has made me such a better person.

In the beginning of the semester I seen myself as, “a communication scholar primarily interested interpersonal communication and the relationships between people”. After studying communication studies for a few months now I still believe that interpersonal communication in the area that I am interested in. In every communications class that I took this semester I have always been more intrigued with how people communicate with each other. Two areas that I learned a little bit about this year and might have an interest in learning more about in the future is the different ways in which different genders interact with each other and the ways in which media affects our communication. Having such a broad major of communication studies I am pleased to know that there are so many areas that I can direct my attention in.

The three questions that I created in the beginning of the semester which I wanted answered were:

• How do people create a personality?

• How are standards made in a relationship?

• Is changing your communication process easy

For the first question I didn’t learn that answer this semester.

For the second question I feel like I did learn that answer. With constructivism we created standards based on what we see as acceptable in a relationship and what you, essentially, are ok to put up with. If you decide you are not going to do so then that is what will cause you to change.

For the third question I don’t know if I necessarily learned that directly from this class, but throughout this semester of taking COMM classes I learned that it is not easy but it can be done.  

Eye Opening Experience

The process for me of gathering information and preparing for my comm analysis was very unique.
Before I prepared for this presentation I actually came upon my own idea similar of Media Ecology. One day I was going out to eat with friends of my friend, so nobody that I knew, when I realized that my phone was dead. Now usually I have a car charger to charge it back up, but for some reason it was no where to be found. After being frustrated that I didn't have my phone, we proceeded by walking into the restaurant and saying hello to everyone. These were people who my friend had known, but who I had never met before. After about 30 minutes of being there and conversing I see everyone reaching for their phone and checking their devices. This left me just looking around with nothing to look at. At one point of observing, cause I had no phone, everyone at the table was not actually talking but rather hooked on their phones looking at Instagram, Facebook, etc. The lunch had went on and at the end we all said goodbye and went our separate ways.

This is the moment where it had come to me. The devices such as smartphones or tablets are changing the way that people interact. We are no longer relying on each other for conversation or entertainment, but rather getting it from these devices. Even in scenarios where we all come together to talk, we still have to be on call to the devices that we have. After sharing this idea with a friend we had constant talk about it for days. Because I had not had a device at that lunch I was like an outsider looking in. I was able to see what was consuming everyone in a short amount of time. Once I opened my eyes up to this idea I started to see it everywhere I went. This is the moment where the light bulb clicked on and I remembered Media Ecology. From that point on I knew what I wanted to use as my artifact and theory for my comm analysis project.

Fast foward to getting ready for my presentation... As a preparation for my comm analysis poster session I decided to present all of my research, and it's application to my artifact, to a group of my friends. I wanted to do this to make myself more prepared for any questions that students might ask, as well as just becoming comfortable talking in front of  a group of people. Public speaking seems to be one of my biggest challenges as a communication major. When I am not completely confident with what I am saying I tend to stumble upon words and repeat things that I had already brought up. This is why I knew that I needed to practice. Because this theory had become something that I truly believed in it was easy for me to talk one on one with somebody and explain what I thought, but I needed to remember to apply certain details about the actual theory.

Once I got my poster put together I was ready to present. It actually made me more nervous to present to my friends than actual strangers. They tried to ask me very in depth questions to see if I knew what I was presenting. I succeeded by answering most of their questions with full detail. To me, it was surprising to see how much they actually learned from me. I assumed that they would not have such an interest in this topic like they did. I received very positive feedback and also tips to use when I presented in class.

From this experience it not only opened my eyes to this theory, but also about my self. With this theory I learned about our society today along with previous eras and their technology. I was able to see that the technology that we have helps us communicate with others, as well as communicating a message in itself. We need to step back and see the things that it is doing to our society and to our people. We have this assumption that these devices are helping our life when in fact it is hurting us. Along with learning the theory, I also learned a lot about myself. Sometimes I am scared to approach people about important things so I will do it over text message or email. I learned that this is not something I should be doing. If I cannot face things that are going on in my life now, then it is only going to get harder. As I use my device now I am more conscious about where, when, and how I use it.

Social Penetration Theory & My Big

A few months ago I took my first steps on the campus of San Jose State University. I was a transfer student from my hometown of Hayward, California, about thirty minutes from San Jose. This was not the first university that I attended, but rather one that I know I wanted to be apart of. A university that within a few years, I knew I was going to graduate from. Now in high school I had a lot of friends. Most people who graduated eight grade with me went onto the same high school as I did. Because of this reason of course it wasn't hard to make friends. I kept most of the friends I already had in middle school and made a few more along the way. After high school making the transition from knowing mostly everyone to knowing no one was a huge shock for me. In my first few years of college I made what I would call "acquaintances", but no one that I truly called a friend. Because I didn't care too much about school life at the time, I felt no need to make friends. I would go to school, leave, and be completely fine with that. Transferring to a whole new area and new school I was forced to adapt to a new lifestyle  and this time in hopes to develop new friendships. 

Now making friends wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be due to the fact that I was a commuter. I didn't have much time to spend on campus because I didn't live in the area. After the few days of realizing the difficulty I knew I needed to do something about it. Everywhere on campus I seen flyers about joining a sorority. At fist I didn't think it was my thing, but I took an opportunity to try it out. After going through the process of choosing a house, I finally chose Delta Gamma. Every girl seemed to be really nice and someone that I would get a long with. Now I was  extremely excited because I just acquired about 80 new "sisters", but just calling them this wasn't going to necessarily going to make us close. We had to learn about each other and share information for our friendship to blossom. There was someone in particular which I was able to create this instant bond with.

I can't really explain what it was that drew us together, but it was definitley something. This lovely lady's name is Ari. She became the first real friend that I made in this house. When I first met her we shared information like where we were from, how old we were, and what we were studying in school. After many times of hanging out with her we started to share more information about ourselves. I would tell her thing like what my favorite color, food, and hobbies were. She then shared the same information and we came to find that we had a lot in common. When it came time to choose a "big sis" in the house I knew who I wanted. After a few issues, she was someone who I could officially call my "big". I was sooo excited because she was someone I really created a friendship with. Even though we didn't know EVERYTHING about each other at that time, we still knew we were meant to be. As time as gone on we are starting to share even deeper information about of lives. This includes fears, close stories to the heart, and etc. If it wasn't for her I don't think I would be as outgoing in the sorority as I am today.

This whole process of making new friends in a sorority and especially creating such a deep bond with Ari is exactly like the social penetration theory. This tells us that we develop deeper relationships with people when we reveal information that is sensitive to us. I was able to start creating friends with the whole sorority by sharing basic information about myself. With Ari we revealed information about ourselves that we don't necessarily share with everyone. This is what helped create that bond and friendship between us.  We both self-diclosed ourself by voluntarily sharing things about ourselves without the other person asking for it. Social penetration theory explain why we are so close. 

Before I took COMM 101C I didn't realize that there was an actual process to creating intimate relationships with someone. After learning about this theory and applying it perfectly into my life currently, I am able to see how true these theories are in life and how they can help anyone understand true friendships.