Media Communication

The media has a large role to play in our lives, be it subconscious or not. It comes in many forms such as newspapers, TV commercials and magazines, all of which has the ability to color our perception and influence our choices.

The media seems to constantly focus on ideal styles and behaviors through the choices of models used. Skinny, flawlessly beautiful women are portrayed in size zero outfits not only in fashion magazines but in tv commercials as well. It is almost impossible to find the people of average sizes(10 and above) in advertisements.

Take perfume ads where popular models are featured. This stirs emotions to viewers at home, inspiring them to achieve such an image which they deem as confidence. Magazines also portray stick thin models parading down runways in beautiful expensive outfits while the audience cheer with envy.

The media has a powerful control over broadcasting or advertising whatever they please. Unfortunately, this also means that it may be biased as images of the real world are not justifiably portrayed. Photos used in magazines too are sometimes doctored so that models appear unrealistically flawless and skinny. For the audience, having seen such pictures and ads repeatedly may cause them to feel worse about themselves as such desires are almost unattainable. Even with the subconscious knowledge of knowing such photos may be altered, the manipulation of emotions causes feelings of jealousy and unhealthy dieting.

To emphasize beauty with success, advertisements and commercials usually attach slogans or wealthy lifestyles to such images.

Dove conducted a survey in the UK and found that almost two thirds of women have low self esteem because of beauty ads. Women of different shapes and sizes are pictured in their underwear for the Dove Firming advertising. This caused a positive stir in people's reactions as using women of such sizes are against the norm. The fact that viewers find the 'Dove' advertisement unique and real shows how rare it is for the media to depict such women as the ideal image of beauty success and confidence.

Inter-Cultural

Cultures dominate our world, stretching across continents and societies with its unique and traditional values. Singapore as a country, too, has its own culture and beliefs. Our predominantly routine of school, work and inevitably marriage is inculcated in each Singaporean, passing down generations along the way. Our modern outlook of marriage has somewhat taken a western approach, adapting to new changes as the decades fly by.

The movie titled 'Coming to America' portrays an African prince defying his culture of arranged marriages by masking his identity to find a girl whom he truly loves and vice verse.

Although we do not follow such practice here in Singapore, there are many other countries with cultures that live by such traditions. Indian and Nepalese Hindus are examples of people who strictly obey these rules.

Some may argue against such traditions, deeming them as flawed. In today's modern society, people develop and acquire mindsets which allow them to determine their lifestyle choices. Decisions to marry the partner of their choice seems appropriate; in most cultures, marriage is mainly based on one's preference as the ceremony is considered sacred where the couple involved prove their love for each other wholeheartedly and would be willing to spend the rest of their lives together. However for those in India, the norm to carry out marrige procedings involves parents as well, especially to a large extent. This is mainly due to the social standings or caste system based in the country. Parents choose the bride or groom, ideally suited in their perception, for their children. Funny enough, the divorce rates in individualistic USA is much higher than that of India. Comparing the difference in cultures, most couple in urbanized societies marries the person of their choice only after years of being acquainted while couples in traditional India meet their spouses only on the day of their marriage.

Feeling odd about the process of arranged marriages in other cultures depicts ethnocentrism. Being critical about another’s way of life does not allow room for thoughts and ideas but causes one to remain shallow.

It is necessary to be tolerant and understanding especially while living in a world filled with various cultures and traditions. It is also essential to be able to embrace and accept the different norms of societies to ensure a positive outcome in inter-cultural communication.

Group Communication

One primary quality which define a group is the interaction among its members. An example of such a group is a Formula 1 team. At the recent Singapore Grand Prix, one of between 17 and 19 races staged around the globe each year, 20 cars raced to finish first in the battle for the world championships. But no driver can ever win a race on his own. He belongs to a team and is dependent on each of the roughly 100 members in it.

Each team has two drivers and they travel with both of them to every race around the world in an effort to help them achieve the best possible result. Some are deployed to take care and maintain tyres, while others like technicians are trained to repair the cars quickly when they are damaged in racing accidents.

There are also other key specialists who monitor the performance of the cars on track through computers linked to satellites or plot strategies for the drivers. On race days there is also a crew of about 20 men who are highly trained to refuel and change tyres for the cars when they get into the pitlane in the fastest time possible.

Most of the interaction during a race is done via headphones from the garage and pitwall to the driver on track to guide him on his race position, his fuel levels, as well as engine and tyre performance

This brings us to the second element of a group: goal orientation. Each member in the team has the responsibility to perform his task with the main goal of attaining first position. Everything is well-rehearsed so that every member is geared towards achieving the highest possible coordination with the team as the slightest error can mean the difference between winning and losing.

Although the driver is the focus of fans, his teammates are very much a part of his success. During a pit stop, it is their efforts to re-fuel and perfect the car within the shortest possible time, that play a vital role in getting him to the finish first. With a common goal, teammates are geared to help each other to succeed and bring out the best in each one of them.

The structure within a group determines whether a team is able to achieve the optimum result. In the case of a Formula 1 race team, a clear division of sub-groups exists to prevent a clash of responsibilities, especially on the day of the race. Different classes of work are assigned to specific members who will then carry them out within their respective sub-groups. In the end, winning a race or the title is a team effort. While the driver take centrestage, a lot goes on behind the scenes that help get him there, and these people are equally the champions as the driver is.

Interpersonal Communication

i was reading an article in the Straits Times today and came across a rather interesting story titled, 'Former Karung guni gets his girl'.

here's the gist of it, a 40 year old Karung guni man who has been dating his 43 year old girlfriend, is finally getting married after battling many obstacles. To prove the stereotype of women wanting a more stable partner in relationships, a poll was taken with a conclusion indicating women in Singapore avoided dating men with non-glamorous jobs. This couple was one of the exceptions.

However, Mr Khiew progressed too fast in the relationship while Ms Khoo enjoyed her freedom, thus emitting them on different frequencies. He proposed for the first time via the newspaper which led to a temporarily halt in their relationship; Ms Khoo felt the proposal came too sudden and responded by avoiding contact with Mr Khiew. His perseverence eventually worked out well for him as he moved her with his sincere acts of love and kindness leading to her acceptance of his second marrige proposal.

A few ideas related to interpersonal relationships are demonstrated here. The couple has gone through series of stages before reaching a level known as 'bonding' in the Knapp model. Previously while encountering some problems, Ms Khoo went through a stage of avoidance due to feelings of being awkward after rejecting a proposal. However, instead of falling into the terminating phase where a relationship between both parties cease to exist, the couple's problem was salvage but his strong emotions and willingness to continuing showing his girlfriend much love and care. Their relationship eventually moved into the intensifying phase where awareness and interpersonal relations develop. Both notices the quality of their love for each other and thus leading them into the bonding stage where a mutual agreement for marriage takes place.

Non Verbal Communication

Each and everyone of us has our own interpretation of things which are built over time, mostly through experiences. At times, we submit to our stereo-typical mindsets where limits and rules are followed. Walking along the sidewalk while two girls interlocking hands stroll pass may trigger certain thoughts such as 'couple' or 'lesbians' almost instantaneously. some may cringe at the thought of it even though they may just be two homosexuals with a strong friendship. girls tend to hold hands at a very young age as females generally tend to be more intimate than males. Apart from walking about hand in hand, hugging amongst the female population is also relatively common.

Watching teenage girls engage in conversation while holding each others hands should not seem any more disturbing as to children walking along the beach or at playgrounds hand in hand. Stereotyping these groups of people only narrows one mind, oblivious to the benefits of such strong and intimate acts of friendship.

Most people have a perception of which only couples are involved in such intimate acts. However, on a friendship level, it is proven that such gestures are healthy as 'touch' allows the build up of values such as kindness as well as to allow one another to feel loved and cherished. Friends also use 'touch' to show how they care for one another and it also symbolizes security, knowing that someone is there for you. Words can be comforting but a simple hug will go a long way.

Everyone of us have been subjected to many forms of sterotypes; however, it is important to embrace each individual as themselves and not attempt to change their behaviours just to suit the needs of the society.

Interpretation

Despite similar situations and events, it is possible create different outcomes by different groups of people. Communications occur naturally in our daily lives. With the advancement of techonlogy over the decades, communicating with one another is made possible even when the other party may not be present at that point in time.

The birth of the Short Message Service (SMS), email and instant messaging (e.g MSN) allows communication between two parties via a process called texting. It is basically the modern form of snail mail where other person receives the desired message almost instantaeously. However, with such convinence comes unforseen trivial issues. These messaging systems then turn into routine daily conversations, to a point where it starts to replace face-to-face conversations. Unlike talking to a person physically, these messaging process does not allow emotions to be felt or seen. Words are replacing feelings thus, how the person truly feels becomes lost in cyberspace. A person typing 'HAHAHA' may be laughing either sincerly or sarcasticly. This would be impossible to interprete as the reciever is unable to hear the speaker's tone. Non-verbal communication plays a crucial role to a person's attempt of protraying his feelings and as such, misinterpretation of a subject occurs. Arguments may arise as both sides may not know if the other is joking or serious. Words are made of alphabets stringed together to form meanings but it does not display emotions.





















To make situations worse, limits for facial expression may also cause the other party to wrongly judge a person's feelings in a discussion. Facial expressions are basically known to give honest opinons of how one truely feels. Eye contact is important in communication as it allows an intimate connection to be form, speaking far more than words itself. The lack of such visual aids in instant messaging would as such, allow more misinterpretation opportunities. One would also be unable to tell if a person feels angry or joyful when the other tries to emphazize his or her feelings with the usage of exclimation marks. What the reciever may interprete though, would be the sender's sudden outburst of emotions, which may not necessarily be accurate.

With that, despite the convinences of instant messaging, it too has its limitations. Misinterpreting messages may not seem severe on the surface but has the ability to be deadly on a much higher level when lives are involved or at stake. A trial case of falsely accusing an innocent victim due to misinterpretation would be an example. Hence, it is important to elimate possibilities to such occurances to the best of one's ability to prevent such misfortunes.

Perception

I was reading about the hijack of a Mexican airline in the Today newspaper this morning and realise that what can seem a just cause for some can mean a criminal act to others. The hijacker in this case was a 44-year-old preacher who had a bomb and threatened to blow up the plane. He claimed that God spoke to him to warn people of an upcoming earthquake. Many terrorist groups share similar logic of divine missions to carry out their terrorist attacks, be it the September 11 attacks, or the Bali bombings.
We view such actions as criminal, intolerable and highly threatening due to the massive lost of lives and destruction to the economy and cities, our world in general. When captured, these terrorist are deemed guilty and either executed or jailed quickly to prevent them from carrying out their next terrorist attacks. But leaders of terrorist groups view such acts as heroic in the name of religion. The mastermind of the September 11 attack said he hope to be executed to allow him, in his belief, to become a martyr. Wanted terrorist Osama bin laden said in May 1998 before the twin towers in New York that "Our primary mission is nothing but the furthering of this religion".
The actions of men can often have two different perspectives that is extremely different. Both see the importance of their own mission and judge the other as wrong. This is a key reason why clashes occur and the rise in extreme religious beliefs in our world today is threatening to cause an outbreak of war and disputes.