Interpersonal communication is a conversation between a group of two to four people. Through this conversation, the book talks a lot about how distance and responsibility to the relationship matter. I liked the concept of distance and I feel that it is prevalent with college students. Students go off to college and are away from home and somehow realize that their relationship with their parents or siblings got stronger. With living with them for so many years and then going to college you can finally step back and realize the bigger picture, it allows for one to appreciate the relationship so much more. This is essential for a relationship because we all need our own space and it allows us to appreciate that moment or memory we created with that person."Philosophically, distance makes memories possible"(125). There is also the interpersonal responsibility of a person to nourish and care for that relationship. "good personality, or interpersonal style, linked with interpersonal responsibility, or character, leads to long-term relational health"(127). Without proper nourishment or support of a relationship, it will soon become less strong and lead to a termination of a relationship.
I started to think about the internet relating to interpersonal communication and how distance and interpersonal responsibility has a role in that. When we go away to college we have technology to stay in touch with our friends and family. Distance allows for a better realization of the relationship but sometimes the lack of responsibility allows for some high school friendships to fade. for example, we are away at college and we decide to text a friend and they don't text back, this affects the nourishment of the relationship and that friends responsibility to text you back. At the same time if you are personally with a friend and you decide to be on your phone to text other people it devalues your relationship with the person you are with and values the people you are texting. Technology and cellphones have become this contradictory commodity in our society for communicating.
I agree with all of this, especially with the part about going away to college "allow[ing] for some high school relationships to fade."
ReplyDeleteI am years away from high school and from the concern of high school relationships fading (I have only stayed friends with a couple of people from high school, but I can apply this to recent friendships that have faded from my life.
For example, a former friend and I communicated almost daily using technology- usually Facebook messenger. However, despite living only about a mile away from him, we seldom saw each other. As such, technology and social networking became a way for us to be lazy in nourishing our friendship. As such, the nourishment was not enough, and the friendship faded.
That's okay, though, because it's better to know what the value of the friendship really was and allowed us both to move on.