I-You to I-Thou

A relationship I have had with one of my best friends first started off as an I-You relationship where we knew each other from church, our families were close however we did not really hang out that much, or communicate too much. We never really communicated on a deep level, meaning we talked about general things how life was and all, however nothing too specific. We had not built that trust and bond good friends or those we feel close to would share with each other. We avoided talking about how we really felt about the things that were going on in our daily lives. We just stuck through with being friends who see each other and interact with one another when we can,however we never really knew how much we could trust each other. Our current relationship is now an I-Thou because we always acknowledge either by text, online chat, phone conversations mainly and can tell each other basically anything. We laugh together, we tell each other what's on our minds, we talk about things that only we both can understand how the other feels about something or someone. We accept each other for who we are and embrace it. I know I can count on her to give me advice on things and vice versa. Earlier we were talking about an encounter I had with someone the day before and we kept trying to figure out when we both would be free to talk because she wanted to hear what had happened. I noticed how much she cared for something that didn't really matter. She cared so much because she knew it mattered to me. I have noticed over time, our friendship has grown because we have grown as individuals and realized we have more in common that we thought. We were never not close until today because we had differences in my own and her shared field of experience, it was more because we did not know or think we had so much in common. Today, we both look back at how much we have grown, and how our friendship grew closer over time without us seeing it coming.

Linear Models vs Interactive Models

Whenever I hear or think of the term linear, I think of something being one-way as the text mentioned. The linear model of communication as stated and showed in the text on page 17, discusses how the information source which is the message, is then the transmitter which consists of a signal which then becomes the received signal which then leads to the receiver(receiving the message) the outcome being the destination. However, then part of the revised model, noise is added to the model which is anything that can cause a disruption in a signal being received. Then there is the sender(send the message) to the receiver. Linear models portray communication "as flowing in only one direction-from a sender to a passive receiver"(Wood, 17). The problem in this model is that according to the text, it is implying that the listeners never send messages and they absorb "passively" what the speakers say which is not always true. An example of a linear model of communication could be when a friend and I were having coffee and she was talking about what was going on in my life, and I would to just sit there and listen and not move a muscle which is not always true. Usually as a listener we do make certain gestures such as nodding or saying "mhmm" to show we are hearing what the sender is saying.

An interactive model shows how the process of communication is how listeners provide feedback, which is the response to the message according to the text. Interactive models also imply that people communicating create and interpret messages within their personal field of experience(s) that they may have. The more individuals have commons fields of interest, the better they can understand each other. The less they do, then that could lead to conflict or misunderstandings. An example of an interactive model of communication is if a friend and I were on a walk and we were sharing what was going on in each of our lives, she shares her story and I share mine and within both of our conversations, we each exchange some form of communication to show we are receiving the message and that the sender of the message was being heard. The thing that both models do not mainly capture is that no matter who is involved in communication, both parties engage in sending and receiving messages because they are communicating amongst one another.

Introductory Post

Hey everyone!

My name is Mary aka Little Miss Daisy, I am in my fourth year at SJSU and am a Communication Studies major. I am looking forward to this upcoming semester and getting to know all of you. I have taken quite a few online classes so far through this major and love it. I feel taking online classes teaches us discipline, responsibility, consistency, organizational, and time management skills. I always suggest by staying on top of the class schedule and keeping track of each assignment(s) due each week.

What I hope to learn from this course is more on communication and human relationships and how to learn to understand communication when it comes to all the different relationships we have or may come across in our daily lives.

A little about me... I am a big SF Giants fan and love baseball (it's my favorite sport). I love being around my family and friends, and walking as well.

Looking forward to this upcoming semester!

~little miss daisy