Exame #1 Lucy Fanto

Lucy Fanto
Understanding Lit

Professor Ellis

Exam #1

This Sunday, as I was walking around campus and spending time with friends, I tried to analyze the ways in we all communicate daily. There are many methods of communication in today's society and the methods keep evolving with new technology. Part of the Jesuit tradition is to analyze yourself spiritually, physically and emotionally. This exercise of evaluating the way you communicate with your peers, in person and electronically, is a perfect segway to understand the Jesuit tradition. It was interesting to see how I communicated with my peers and the communication trends that were common for most students my age. The results to this exercise showed me that although I considered myself and my peers to be social with each other, we lacked communication outside of our technology and were disconnected from our surroundings.

The first couple hours of my day, I noticed that my morning was not filled with much communication. I woke up and checked my phone and communicated with my mom, sister and friends from home all through quick text messages. When I saw my roommates, our form of communication was mostly nonverbal since none of us are considered morning people. The nods, morning groans and sighs towards our alarms was enough of a symbol to understand how the day was going to be.

When I continued my morning with a walk to Starbucks and Boulder, I quickly noticed on my walk that almost every student I passes was either talking on their phone or baried with their head texting. I did notice that when there was verbal communication once I reached these hangout locations on campus, it was very generalized conversation such as, "How was your night last night?" or "Do you have a lot of homework?". It started to seem like we were unable to hold true genuine conversations that actually held substance without doing it through a text. 

Later in the day when I had to disconnect myself from the electronic world, it became more clear to me how frequently I use my cellphone and computer and how dependent I am on it. I found myself uneasy, frantically reaching for my phone in an effort to swipe or like or text someone. It also became clear to me during this time period how much more likely I am to stay connected with someone and have a relationship with them if I connect with them online, through social media, or if I have the ability to text them about anything at anytime. I learned the impatient nature of our generation by unplugging myself and realized my lack of ability to say what I really mean to someone, unless its on a computer or phone screen. This research made it clear to me that it is now impossible to communicate through any other method then through technology. People continue to unplug themselves and create bonds with the outside world and with each other physically, but it almost always ends up returning back to the technological relationship that is so common today. 

Before this exercise, I wanted to believe that our generation was able to communicate better then people expect us too. Unfortunately, I was slightly mistaken. It was a shame for me to see that without this technology we wouldn't be able to make tight relationships or truly communicate with others. After this exercise, I value the Jesuit tradition of self-analyse and making true connections with others so much more. I want to take their teachings and use it to change the way I communicate with my peers everyday.