The first instance occurred early last week, when I asked my mom and my grandparents to help me narrow down a course to switch with my BIOBM 330 class (which my faculty advisor neglected to inform me of a prerequisite essential to the course, forcing me to drop the class). In case anyone’s wondering why I would ask my mom and grandparents for advise, it’s really just a tradition in the family – we discuss a lot of things together (even my cousin who is a graduate student, still ask my grandpa for advice). Anyways, I asked them the question by email and wrote down the courses I have tried to get in but failed.
The course selection is not an equivocal task, therefore, according to the Media Richness Theory, I should choose a leaner media—email, in this case.
The second instance occurred this Sunday (Monday considering it was 1:05 AM), when my townhouse mate Dan came to our room to show off his newly perfected card trick. My roommate was thrilled to see the trick, even though it was his second time seeing it (he was tricked sometime earlier on that day). He was shouting: “That’s awesome!” while my response was subtle in comparison. Dan left the room. I somehow felt that my response was rather insufficient, but I didn’t want to go to the next room and say: “That’s awesome, dude!” My computer was on at the time and I saw his screen name on the AIM list. After being tricked, I was up to some mischief. So, I sent him a message through AIM: “Yo. Nice trick btw.”
I can’t remember exactly how it went, but it was something like:Dan: “what trick?”Me: “Poker”Dan: “when?”
Me: “just now.”
……
Few seconds later, he appeared at our door again. “You are crazy.” According to him, he went from confused to slightly weird out (spooked I would say).
This situation deals with praise (both valence of Other and a positive locus), so according to O’Sullivan’s model, normal people are suppose to use the richest media available, which, in my case, would be walking 5 steps and knock on his door. I’m sure that’s what he would expect from a situation like this, but instead I used a more mediated interaction—AIM. Taken in account the fact that we never talked much on AIM before coming to Cornell, he isn’t very familiar with my screen name, so he didn’t realize it was I right away. So, when he saw the half familiar screen name commenting on his poker trick, he logically ruled me out (since I was just a few meters away). He must have thought that someone who is currently far away from him IM-ed him and commented on the poker trick he just did. This may have led him to the conclusion that someone has been spying on him or that he left something on accidentally.
Therefore, this instance of media selection supports the O’Sullivan’s model since deviation from the model results in people getting spooked.
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4 comments:
This was an entertaining post! I could imagine your friend's confusion after reading your IM. Although I understood your situation, it definitely would have been easier to walk nextdoor and tell him you liked the trick.
Your story is interesting because it shows how choosing one medium when another seems more appropriate can cause even more miscommunication! And you fail to be clear and efficient when that was your intention.
Hi Rui,
I like how your post proves the point of the media richness theory that we should use the richest media possible. I personally agree with that, however I also feel that if somebody feels as if they need to talk to someone else about something (whether it be good or bad), one should always talk to them in person to avoid any mis communication. Maybe, because this was an instance where, according to the theory, you should have talked to him in person, Dan misunderstood your IM. Maybe, because he couldn't see any of your nonverbal cues, he assumed that the IM was sarcastic. Because of this, I think your post also agrees with the Cues Filtered Out theory where people can seem colder even if not meaning to be.
Nah, I kinda know what's gonna happen before I sent the IM. Just tricking people for fun. And it wasn't about the sarcasm. He thought I was someone else. =P
Hi Rui. Interesting situations.
You may not have intended to, but I think you brought up a good point about mediated communication, which the theories don’t seem to focus on. That is that for certain situations, there is an expected type of communication, and regardless of what Media Richness or O’Sullivan say, not choosing to use the expected form will result in awkwardness, to say the least. In the case with your housemate, even had he been very familiar with your screen-name, I imagine he’d still find it strange of you to instant message him from the other room, even though Media Richness theory compelled you to communicate it in another way.
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