Monday, November 16, 2009
Internet Timing
In reading Chapter 22, "Cybertime," I realized my lack of focusing on how the roles of digital clocks and our computer's internal clock. But one point made in the article that stood out to me, by way of relation, was the third phenomenon of cybertime. This third phenomenon is the subjective experience of time through computers and our interaction with them. This point immediately brought to mind how my friends, and myself included, struggle with time in conversations on the internet. When we send an instant message and it takes two minutes for a reply, that wait could alter the meaning of the answer and allow for a variation of interpretations. We are used to immediate answers and it is this timing on the internet which determine the mood of conversations. The only way someone can try to tell the emotions or attitude of another individual over the internet is the timing and rhythm of the back and forth conversation.
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ReplyDeleteExcellent point, and certainly it applies to IM and text messaging both. I'd like to see more discussion on this.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point Devon. Texting is also very keen to timing. The way we used texting has become more and more personal and the conversations even have become more than just, "What's up?" And it seems that with this more personal information in conversations, we sometimes can get worked up in how fast someone responds or not. This isn't only limited to personal things however, we all have friends who never answer or take a very long time.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were younger a lot of our communication with friends happened on AOL then AIM but in the past few years, with everyone having phones with full keyboards that they never put down - texting has become how I communicate with everyone. I realized recently that it's gotten to the point where the majority of communication with some of my best friends is through texting and I've actually developed friendships or strengthened them because of talking constantly in text messages.
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