Future Communications

Communications today has evolved as the links between all the cultures of the world have been brought together with global communications. Has global communications bridged the cultural differences between the nations and peoples of the world?

In today’s society having a good self-image is important to being accepted by our peers. Self-concept is another method of self-identity. Society is very judgmental as to who we are in the scheme of things in society. Our peers give us reflected appraisals and judge us on our character, our appearance, and how we interact with others in a group. In a social group such as in a school or work place, everyone has an opinion about the people they work with in a social comparison context. If someone is too far to the left of the social norm, then they are ostracized because they do not fit into that social setting. People in large metropolitan areas have to be very aware of self-perception because of the population density and numbers of people we interact with in such a densely populated environment. Unique, brilliant people who have a different method of interacting with others become social outcasts due to the prejudice and social bigotry of society.  One’s social perception comprises of basic personal wants, religious, moral, and political feelings as well as political affiliations.

In any society, intercultural communications in society shape our perception though those people who work in the mass media. The media, such as television and radio, have a tendency to convey our cultural perception of world events through the perception of American values and judgment. Correspondents in the media report who do international news stories, they do not fully understand the power they have in influencing the perceptions and opinions of millions of Americans. The news reporters create a psychological safety net for themselves by inputting their personal bias and opinions on all news stories today. Rarely do they take a psychological risk in taking a radically different perspective on a world event; otherwise, it would affect their self-image and job. If a news reporter were to endorse a terrorist act, for example, they would be replaced almost immediately and condemned by the community. Many radio “shock jocks” have been condemned by the public because of their method of getting ratings by shocking the public with making sexual advances and often times racist opinions about a subject matter that is popular in the media. Howard Stern has raised many eyebrows with his honest opinions about things in the world today. Prejudice and stereotyping is common throughout the world. Different countries have different levels of maturity when it comes to sexual and religious freedoms. Today in the United States our level of freedom of speech is the lowest in our countries history. We seem to be obsessed with wanting to be politically correct and to have a balance self-concept and self-disclosures about everything. The impact of gender and culture in regards to interpersonal communications is vastly different in Saudi Arabia or in Iran compared to England or to the United States.

The social perceptions in the Middle East are that of those in the 1700’s in comparison to the United States. Feminist versus masculinity portrayed by the media in the Middle-East is tightly restricted as to what is shown to the public. This changes self-perception of the citizens in Saudi Arabia compared to U.S. Citizens. The clash of religion and the media has always been a driving force for change within a society of the perceptual process of the people who live within that social group. Our media and society condemn the social misfits, those that commit crimes. These people have poor self-images and self-perceptions. They have a distorted subjective view of society and perceive society as being wrong with everything and feel their philosophy as being the correct one to live by. The criminals commit murder, theft, and rape due to psychological imbalances that occur as a result of traumatic events in their lives or mental illness. These people are put in prisons throughout the United States instead of given mental assistance due to the social perception by the whole of today’s society. The cultural similarities of how to deal with crime is to punish by removing these people from society.

Today we constantly are adjusting our perceptual influences from the input by internet, blogs and social groups that shape our perception of the world today. Verbal communications through media are different in countries throughout the world. The messages conveyed in the media from the Middle-East are very religiously based compared to the United States or to England. We convey non-verbal messages of social morality in television, in movies, in commercials, and in the news to shape how we should perceive world events. Due to the diversity of the cultural influences of American society, there are a wide range of perceptions as to how to view various events in the media.

We gain insight into ourselves with social groups. The internet has become a tool for various forms of communications through: Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, and to convey various forms of talk: aggressive talk, regrettable talk, criticism, complaints, avoidance, defensive communication, and major conflicts. This media has brought people together with common interests and desires more than anything else in history. People who felt isolated and alone can now communicate with others using the internet as a medium for exchange of ideas, feeling, philosophy, in an attempt to improve their self-perception.

Groups of people from different cultural identities congregate in these social forums to reinforce their culture heritage and beliefs. Some of the beliefs may be negative and destructive by societal standards, but it maintains the freedom of speech and religion.

We have cultural identities in various cultures, family, work, or community co-cultures enhance the quality of civilization. When we recognize and respect ethnic and cultural diversity, it improves the perception of our religious and culture differences from each other. There are many diverse cultures that have come to the United States from other countries that have integrated themselves into our society. We have a rich diversity of beliefs at home and in the work place. In the work place environment, professional conduct and respect for our cultural diversity is paramount to maintaining a productive work environment. Human resources departments are ever aware of the diversity in the work place in enforcing the need for respect of cultural differences that many people cannot understand or are willing to openly accept. Fear is the lack of understanding in any society. When people in any workplace or social settings are exposed to people of an alien culture, religion or belief structure, they react in fear due to their lack of understanding about the religion or cultural belief structure. Power distance is used as a way to work to contract a group of cultures. This power difference in family customs, relationships between students and teachers, young and old are prevalent in our society. In Los Angeles and New York you will see a vast power distance due to the numerous diverse cultures that all live within such a small area together. Hispanics, Vietnamese, Blacks, Koreans, Chinese may all live within a ten mile area of Los Angeles and yet have minimal interaction. There may be spoken 50 different languages in Los Angeles that the police department has to interact with in emergency phone call centers. When you have such a concentration of people, the barriers to intercultural communications can be a problem, especially when the police have to deal with all of the cultures in such a concentrated area. The Hispanics and Blacks in Los Angeles have a high degree of ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination because of their cultural differences. These differences give rise to violence, murder, and isolation from each other.

There are strategies to overcome these differences in a community such as in Los Angeles with assertive and aggressive assimilation. The minority-group work hard at any cost to fit into the dominant group in the areas. The approach of accommodation strategies, whereby groups from different cultures make concessions to become more aware of the differences in their cultural differences, helps to build bridges between the various cultures and communities in a large metropolitan area. Nonassertive, assertive and aggressive accommodations are strategies used in groups to help improve the communications between non-dominant and dominant-group members of the community. There is often time mediation necessary between these diverse groups to create dialog between these different groups.  Education is the best method to improve culture differences. Once these groups are familiar with the cultural similarities then method of transposition and the process of empathizing can occur across these cultural divides. It can be very difficult for people that have known only one way of life to see their lives through someone else’s perception due to a different cultural belief structure. Engineers from India that come to the United States come to work at a company are received with mixed feelings by those employees that work there. The American employees often do not understand the differences in eating, in dressing, and in their speech accent that can be initially difficult to bridge. When we learn more about the Indian culture through gaining cultural and linguistic knowledge, then you have a greater appreciation of the diversity of our two cultures. People coming to the United States from India or China feel just as alien and strange in our land as we would if we were to visit their country. Americans are more mature in general than other countries with respecting other cultures because we have a great melting pot of people that have come here over the last two hundred years. Evan with that fact, there are a great many people that need to listen to people from other cultures to learn who they are and what makes their culture a unique contribution to the United States.

There are different listening styles that if people were to adhere to would then, they would greatly improve our philosophical understanding of each other. When people listen to each other, they are concerned with their own feelings. An action listening style is important to giving presentations. Content listening is when you give complex and challenging information to a group. Time-style listening is when people have hurried and brief interactions such as with the media of television and radio portrayal. Our schools and universities are attempting to help educate today’s young to understand the need for understanding and have tolerance of the diversity of culture. Today, we still are fifty years behind the times in creating a proper Introduction to Literature class that does not incorporate stories and poems from other countries in the world: such as in India, in China, in Russia and in the Middle-East. It is still only teaching American poets and English plays but mainly Shakespeare. Most young Americans would like to read stories about life in India, in Russia, in China or in the Middle-East.

The future of communications and interactions in society is changing as we speak. The change is coming with instantaneous news and information via the internet from every country in the world. When there is a political unrest in a country such as Iran, the people and not the media are able to be heard by everyone on the internet. The voices of individuals can now be heard and understood by everyone without censorship or bias in most countries. Those countries that censor their citizens now have to content with the opinions and feelings of the global community. There is a great deal of cognitive dissonance in the world today, such as: people feeling conflict, anxiety, and apprehension because they have two or more attitudes. They want to be accepted by everyone, but everyone has different opinions and perspectives on issues. In our country, there are hundreds of special interest groups all with their agenda being heard on political, environmental, health and society issues. It is difficult for the leaders of this society to maintain critical listening because of the incredible wave of people wanting to be heard by their government and society.  Empathic listening is important to people in society because they are not just listening to the people and what they are saying, but also in identifying the feeling and emotions behind those words. Whether you are an active critical or empathic listener, listening to your family, spouse, or co-worker is important in maintain a relationship with them. Enlightenment of other people’s feelings and needs can only come through listening, something the internet is providing to all of us.

As the internet evolves, virtual reality and interaction are increasing. We feel more comfortable communicating to our peers on the internet because we do not have to have a physical presence and feel safer interacting on this level. The problem is that with so many people are interacting only on the internet they lose some of their interpersonal one-on-one skill sets. Future transference of emotions and empathy over the internet will help improve our communications to a different level. Technology, such as recording people’s experiences as in the movie “Brainstorm”, is becoming closer to a reality than we realize. We will be able to convey or feeling through a neural interface over the internet, then a true method of global understanding is possible. When we can feel the frustration by people in countries like Iran or China where many of them are oppressed by their government, then we can truly empathize with the cultural differences. I think that it is only a matter of time before people will be plugged into the internet and we will truly become a world community.

The Internet has the ability to increase interpersonal relationships, everything from videos, music and poetry being shared in the global web. We now have a strong support system for interpersonal relationships, for healthy communications, and for interactions. The cost of communicating is the lowest in history. The need to write letters or call someone on the phone has been replaced with texting, tweeting, and communicating to anyone on the Earth. Now you can have millions of friends on social networks. People share their entire lives on the internet with blogs and photo albums. The Internet has proven to be quite valuable for all the above reasons. Parents and schools need to better educate today’s society on the pros and cons of using the internet. Most people do not know how to do proper searches on the internet. Teachers need to teach students how to use the internet like using the library. Most children today know how to use the internet better than their parents. There are positive and potentially damaging influences on the internet. Schools are now starting to teach basic classes to all age children around the world as to how to properly use navigate the internet and have an enjoyable experience at enhancing their interpersonal, learning and social networking for the challenges and difficult times that lie ahead for all of us in the 21^st century. Once we revamp the entire public school system, the future of communications on all levels will greatly enhance our interconnectivity and productivity as a nation.

 

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