Digital Communication

Before the invention of cell phones, e-mail, blogs, etc., when you wanted to communicate with someone, you had to pick up a land-line telephone, snail-mail a letter, or (god forbid) talk to that person face to face.  Now, we can call from our cars, instantly deliver electronic letters, video chat with people on the other side of the world, and post our ramblings for the world to see online.  

Courtesy blog.wsidigitalmarketing.com

It used to be that we held reunions to check in and catch up with people, but these have now become all but obsolete as we now track everyone's every move through Twitter and Facebook.  I know people I haven't seen since middle school had for breakfast yesterday.  Technology has allowed people to stay in constant contact and have constant communication, all while often physically distancing us from each other more and more.  People now tend to live in little "technology-supported" bubbles.  By this I mean that we know more about each other and communicate with each other more that ever before, but the personal contact is steadily deteriorating.  Granted, technology allows people across the world to stay in contact when they otherwise would not be able to, but I also feel that it distances people who do have the option of face to face contact, but who choose to text or email instead.  

I don't mean to say that digital communication tools are bad by any means.  A soldier serving in Iraq can now see his family on Skype weekly instead of having to wait years to come home for a face to face meeting.  A class of students in Montana can talk to a class in China (even face to face through Skype or Facetime) and can learn directly from these students.  Teachers can utilize this technology when teaching about places or cultures.  Who better to teach about the culture of China than a class of Chinese students?!  

courtesy Tervschan2 - YouTube

Digital communication is the present and the future -- and as so, we must start teaching our students how to properly, and safely, communicate through technology.  I feel that digital communication really goes hand in hand with digital etiquette.  As with physical, face to face communication, one must know the proper (and improper) ways of communicating.  When and how to appropriately use cellphones, how to properly compose an email, how to protect yourself when communicating online, and how to prevent and deal with cyberbullying are all topics that we must now teach out students when we teach them how to communicate digitally.  This may be a whole new game, but, really, the rules are still the same.  

courtesy GoogleFamilySafety - YouTube

How This Blog Post Demonstrates Digital Communication:

A blog is one way of communicating digitally.  This blog can be shared with my classmates, friends, family, and Bill searching the internet for "digital communication."  I feel that blogs, while a very basic method of communicating digitally, are still strong and have a solid place in the classroom.  Through my blog post, not only was I able to communicate with my audience through my words, but I was also able to include charts, photos, and videos to help strengthen my words.  In effect, I was able to utilize technology to communicate.  Not only can I communicate with others through my blog, others can comment and communicate back with me.  We can carry on full conversations (with as many other people as we like) through the comment section of the blog.

Teachers can use blogs to communicate with their students and parents.  Students can use blogs to communicate with their teacher and classmates.  Bob can use blogs to communicate with anyone in the world that he wants to.  Blogs allow people with similar interests to come together and communicate with each other on any topic they want to.  In my opinion, blogs are one of the more effective and easily utilized forms of digital communication with some of the widest uses in the classroom.