CMC problems

When people today get into some troubles in their daily life, the first one they turn to help might be their smartphone. During the lab class I took last week, most people regard smartphone as the most important technology product which they cannot live without, a girl even defined smartphone as her best friend, that really impressed me.  Compared to the older generation, people already living in a more convenient life by the help of media technology. Not only have the smartphone, what we called CMC-computer mediated communication definitely changed everyone’s life today.

Via the computer media, the communication is not restricted in the traditional ways, people are no longer limited in the face-to-face communication or using written letter to pass the information. I can sending email, texting, making my parents a phone call or even use the face time to chat directly. All these methods are efficient, it takes less than a second to let them receive my message in another hemisphere in the earth, and this is unbelievable in the old times. However, except the great convenience the computer mediated technology has bring to us, tons of problems also showed up. Take the disadvantages we discussed in class as an example, there are too much information through CMC, and it is difficult for us to shift them. When I browse some website, the advertisements are everywhere. They may hide in the corner of the website, appear in two sides of the webpage, or even popups while I am reading. In addition, the information is not edited or censored, everyone can say anything online, although the government had set some laws to standard the opinion or information people release online, the rumors still annoyed our life. In China, many people “share” their experience about how offender using special knockout drugs to hurt them, the fact is this kind of drug doesn’t exist at all. These kinds of information spread quickly with the help of CMC, not only on the social media, even my grandmother who doesn’t use CMC tool heard about it and worried all day. This greatly disturbs the social order and causes panic.

The CMC also, somehow drifts apart people’s relationship. People looking at their cellphone all day time, even walking on the street. I still remember the day when I was in middle school, nobody has a smartphone at that time, and we kept talking when sitting in front of table and ready to have dinner. However, now even close friends will watch at their phone or taking photos upload to instagram during the dinner time. People prefer talk less through face-to-face but be active in the social media. This makes more and more people have communication problem, they cannot freely talk with others offline, when they face the strangers, they just like a machine which had been turned off. When consider the importance of language in class, we discussed that the language can shifts people’s thoughts, even their culture. However, our language are also shifted by the CMC today. People enjoy using the special language which been used during CMC process, even in daily life now. They may gain much gratification, satisfied because these language can be a symbol of fashion. I’m not sure about the English environment, Chinese language now facing the damage from the CMC language. The younger generation even don’t know about the poetry of the ancient dynasty while they can already fluently repeat the “kuso” edition of the poetry which spread greatly on the internet. I think this will harm our traditional culture anyway. 

It is undeniable that CMC brings huge convenience and fun to our normal life, the accompanied problems also shouldn’t be ignored.