Television communicates cultural
lessons and information to the entire nation, and "these cultural
lessons are assimilated to some degree by audience members throughout
the country who then incorporate elements of the sponsored imagery
into their everyday interpersonal relations" (Lull, 1986, p. 607).
Our daily experience of media inclines us toward particular forms of
social life and creates a "shaped world that reflects the essential
possibilities of media" (Idhe, 1983, p. 63). Media characters become
our role models; these role models do not spring from a void, but are
produced from the culturally biased mind of a writer who in turn has
been influenced by para-social interaction with other media figures
(Caughey, 1984). But most importantly, "interpersonal uses of
television, especially when they involve conversation, contribute to
the maintenance of ideological imperatives" (Lull, 1986, p. 609).
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'Open Hailing Frequencies, Data': Television's Reinforcement and Compulsion of Technolo... - 1 views
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The unthinking dependence of the crew on communication technology is evident on a majority of the shows.
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The inability to communicate is constantly seen as a negative. When technology breaks down the crew rarely makes an attempt to revert to "primitive," face-to-face interaction; instead, all of their energy is focused on repairing the technology.
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Crew members STNG are interrupted even more easily at any time by their communication technologies than we are by the telephone. Interruptions are continuous on board the ship, and the interruptions always take precedence over the interrupted activity.
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The physical behaviors of the actors as they respond to the communicators and intercom are much like our behaviors when speaking on a speakerphone. The crew members stare off into space, in no particular direction; or in the direction of the origination of the call,
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The control of technology is reinforced in the various communication technologies; the content of our media is often the promotion of the technologies of our media.
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The presumption of efficacy allows television to uncritically promote the propagation and proliferation of technology.
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The series also fosters a sense of dependence on technology by presenting a failure of communication technology as a horrifying situation only resolved by restoring technology to its rightful place of power.
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When communication links are broken, characters are not portrayed as enjoying the privacy but rather panicking at their loss.
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While in face-to-face interaction you can sit in companionable silence, in a phone conversation you are expected to hold up your end of the conversation either with grunts, sighs, uh-huhs, or perhaps even a full sentence now and then (Hopper, 1990). When you engage a person who does not assume their obligatory alternating role, the conversation is filled with uncomfortable pauses and a rising sense of irritation.
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Everyone is well aware of the insistency of a ringing phone. If a phone is left unanswered for long, the tension of people in the room increases until someone finally jumps up and answers the phone. We allow the ring of the telephone to interrupt nearly any activity, including our most private moments; the presence of telephones in the bathroom and bedroom says a great deal about societal priorities.
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The possession of a telephone implies and demands that you will answer it whenever you possibly can.
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With the telephone, our initial emotion is dependent more on circumstantial influences in our immediate environment of which the other caller is rarely aware. We may be expecting an important call, which fills us with anticipation at the sound of the ring, but we cannot be sure of the identity of the caller.
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Television creates an image of interpersonal communication via technological media that is so exciting, so simple and so life-like that our day-to-day, face-to-face interactions cannot help but suffer by comparison. Not all of our face-to-face conversations are of earth-shattering importance; but the ringing of the phone, the beeping of the communicator the chiming of the view-screen on television always denotes something of momentous portent.
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For example, it is nearly impossible to share a moment of companionable silence while on the telephone, yet much can be said in moments of silence when the other is actually present. While the point of this essay is not to bash technology, the impact of technology on interpersonal communication is of critical importance. Television tends to exalt technologically mediated communication over face-to-face interaction. As critics we should not blindly accept this exaltation, but question it.