Name of Student: Jamie Melisa Basilio Student Number: 20-080079
Course, Year & Section: BS PHARMACY-1B Prof. Miel Ysabel P. Sanculi
COMM 01/MWF 8-9 AM 2nd Semester AY 2020-2021
The Flight from Conversation
Reflection Paper
In this generation, modern technology has paved its way and became an influential
factor in most ways of our lives. As such, the article specifically focuses on the
revolutionized way of communication and our progressing relationship with technology. In a
sense that, through this habitual use of technology, we’ve convinced ourselves that through it,
we accomplish an actual conversation with other people. But in reality, it is not a
conversation but merely a connection. I fully agree with the author that we now live in a
world that we would rather choose to talk to our phones than talk to the person that’s right in
front of us. That we become dependent and focused on these devices that we are blinded on
the matters we’re losing. We are so busy communicating that we often don't have time to talk
to one another about what matters. To the point that we confuse ourselves with our followers
and friends online that we lock ourselves in this “bubble” when we walk outside the real
world. Because we’re afraid of having a conversation with another person and we prefer to
talk and rely upon Artificial Intelligence instead. For comfort. For advice. For a friend.
The author presented a claim that due to the progression of technology, we have lost
the skills of conversation and replaced it with a connection through text and social media that
grabs all our attention to the point that we forget the real world. Those claims are not just
based on the author’s insights or opinions but through real-life scenarios as stated throughout
the article. Scenarios that we have all eventually encountered once or even constantly in our
lives. Some may even pertain to ourselves personally. From the virtual encounter done “at
home, where families sit together, texting. Reading e-mails at work where executives text
during board meetings. We text during classes and when we're on dates”, maybe from “A
college library or the campus of a high-tech start-up” or just by the public’s excessive use of
social media. With the rapid advancements of technology, it's hard not to notice the changes
it's applying to us. But why can’t notice something so obvious? That this technology is
changing us, on the way we talk, the way we act, to the point of changing who we are. These
scenarios, hence, are what the author used not just to support her idea on the article but also
as a reason for writing such.
The advancements of technology have changed our way of communication. We truly
have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. A generations that will choose to turn to
their gadgets, to our virtual followers and friends rather than to the people around us. In
connection, we can present the self whoever we want to be. This means we can alter and
change the way the world perceives ourselves. In the other hand, for conversation, we tend to
one another. We are called upon to see things from another's point of view, to be seen as the
person as we are. To elaborate, we pretend to believe that what we have on our phones is as
close as to having personal interactions. With a saying that revolves around their life, “I share,
therefore, I am.” in a sense that people share something on social media whether fake or true
just to validate their existence or rather to feel “Alive”. Our connection, our friends on
Facebook, our interactions in Messenger, and our posts on Instagram are worth sharing and
that it is parallel to what we experience in real life. But it's not. the connection is our
temporary distraction and escapes to the verge of being accustomed to socializing from
ourphone and isolating ourselves from reality hence the quote, “being alone together”.
Meanwhile, the conversation is the representation of human intimacy that we connect
not just through words but deeper as that as humans, we can understand much more with each
other than through technology. That from our experiences of face-to-face conversation, we
are more likely to develop a sense of trust, belonging, and sincerity with another. It allows
for a better exchange of information since both speaker and listener can see and interpret
body language and facial expressions. It teaches us about genuine self-expression without the
sense of losing one’s self through sharing our moments and experiences along with the part
of listening. All of which is hard to come by in the virtual world.
The article ends by giving us a sense of command or realization that we’re losing our
humanity through technology. We notice the technology around us and yet we are still
blinded by its changes as we perceive such actions as normal. However, we must turn a blind
eye to this situation but once again know what it truly means to have a true conversation.