chat rooms and their affect on social skills

[Ashley Gibson]

Newsgroup summary

I read he article, "Instructor-moderated chat rooms help shy
students" off the Penn State University Live news article web site
(live.psu.edu). Through the article it tells how a University Professor
created a chat room to hold group class discussions outside of the class
time. He found that students participated much more than they did in
any of their lectures. When he asked what the students thought about
the chat room the overall outlook was a positive one. The students felt
more comfortable in the chat room than they did in the classroom. They
like having the anonymity and not having to worry about embarrassment or
shyness that they usually would in the classroom. The professor
concluded that the chat room was very beneficial to many of the students
and helped them to do better in the course. However, chat rooms may not
always benefit those shy, reserved people. If anything chat rooms would
stunt the development of normal social skills. This article helps to
reinforce the fact that people¹s social skills are lacking and becoming
less developed the more that computers are used. Chat rooms, email, and
other forms of non-verbal technological communication are being used
like a wall that people can hide behind. In public some people are too
afraid, or too shy to go up to someone and talk to them, but when they
get on a computer they don¹t hold back. How can this really be
beneficial to the person if they are continuously hiding behind a
computer? In job interviews you want to be able to be confident and
look the interviewer in the eye, be able to carry a conversation with
them and show that you can easily communicate with people. If you are
always shying away from people in public then how can you possibly gain
confidence and social skills that are useful and necessary in the real
world? You can¹t hide behind the screen forever so chat rooms might not
always be beneficial.

[Liana Cicchetti]

Post by Ashley Gibson
Newsgroup summary
I read he article, "Instructor-moderated chat rooms help shy
students" off the Penn State University Live news article web site
(live.psu.edu). Through the article it tells how a University Professor
created a chat room to hold group class discussions outside of the class
time. He found that students participated much more than they did in
any of their lectures. When he asked what the students thought about
the chat room the overall outlook was a positive one. The students felt
more comfortable in the chat room than they did in the classroom. They
like having the anonymity and not having to worry about embarrassment or
shyness that they usually would in the classroom. The professor
concluded that the chat room was very beneficial to many of the students
and helped them to do better in the course. However, chat rooms may not
always benefit those shy, reserved people. If anything chat rooms would
stunt the development of normal social skills. This article helps to
reinforce the fact that people¹s social skills are lacking and becoming
less developed the more that computers are used. Chat rooms, email, and
other forms of non-verbal technological communication are being used
like a wall that people can hide behind. In public some people are too
afraid, or too shy to go up to someone and talk to them, but when they
get on a computer they don¹t hold back. How can this really be
beneficial to the person if they are continuously hiding behind a
computer? In job interviews you want to be able to be confident and
look the interviewer in the eye, be able to carry a conversation with
them and show that you can easily communicate with people. If you are
always shying away from people in public then how can you possibly gain
confidence and social skills that are useful and necessary in the real
world? You can¹t hide behind the screen forever so chat rooms might not
always be beneficial.

I find this article to be interesting in that there was a positive
response to the Professor's chat room discussions. I believe students
found this more appealing because they were able to avoid issues they
have concerning embarrassment or shyness, yet i still believe a problem
arises as stated in the article. Although students may enjoy this type
of discussion better, they are still missing out from the experience of
class participation and overcoming the fear of public interaction. What
they dont realize is that they will be needing these skills to fulfill
certain tasks in the future.

[Christopher Bendia]

Post by Ashley Gibson
Newsgroup summary
I read he article, "Instructor-moderated chat rooms help shy
students" off the Penn State University Live news article web site
(live.psu.edu). Through the article it tells how a University Professor
created a chat room to hold group class discussions outside of the class
time. He found that students participated much more than they did in
any of their lectures. When he asked what the students thought about
the chat room the overall outlook was a positive one. The students felt
more comfortable in the chat room than they did in the classroom. They
like having the anonymity and not having to worry about embarrassment or
shyness that they usually would in the classroom. The professor
concluded that the chat room was very beneficial to many of the students
and helped them to do better in the course. However, chat rooms may not
always benefit those shy, reserved people. If anything chat rooms would
stunt the development of normal social skills. This article helps to
reinforce the fact that people¹s social skills are lacking and becoming
less developed the more that computers are used. Chat rooms, email, and
other forms of non-verbal technological communication are being used
like a wall that people can hide behind. In public some people are too
afraid, or too shy to go up to someone and talk to them, but when they
get on a computer they don¹t hold back. How can this really be
beneficial to the person if they are continuously hiding behind a
computer? In job interviews you want to be able to be confident and
look the interviewer in the eye, be able to carry a conversation with
them and show that you can easily communicate with people. If you are
always shying away from people in public then how can you possibly gain
confidence and social skills that are useful and necessary in the real
world? You can¹t hide behind the screen forever so chat rooms might not
always be beneficial.

Reply
I also noticed the writing skills of big e-chat people are horrendous at
times. Using slang and acronyms can help speed up conversations but I
know people who just don't care what they type, so long as the recipient
can guess what they're saying, its alright by them. S it would seem we
are turning into the generation that can't talk or spell. That sucks.

[Caitlin Bergstra]

Post by Ashley Gibson
Newsgroup summary
I read he article, "Instructor-moderated chat rooms help shy
students" off the Penn State University Live news article web site
(live.psu.edu). Through the article it tells how a University Professor
created a chat room to hold group class discussions outside of the class
time. He found that students participated much more than they did in
any of their lectures. When he asked what the students thought about
the chat room the overall outlook was a positive one. The students felt
more comfortable in the chat room than they did in the classroom. They
like having the anonymity and not having to worry about embarrassment or
shyness that they usually would in the classroom. The professor
concluded that the chat room was very beneficial to many of the students
and helped them to do better in the course. However, chat rooms may not
always benefit those shy, reserved people. If anything chat rooms would
stunt the development of normal social skills. This article helps to
reinforce the fact that people¹s social skills are lacking and becoming
less developed the more that computers are used. Chat rooms, email, and
other forms of non-verbal technological communication are being used
like a wall that people can hide behind. In public some people are too
afraid, or too shy to go up to someone and talk to them, but when they
get on a computer they don¹t hold back. How can this really be
beneficial to the person if they are continuously hiding behind a
computer? In job interviews you want to be able to be confident and
look the interviewer in the eye, be able to carry a conversation with
them and show that you can easily communicate with people. If you are
always shying away from people in public then how can you possibly gain
confidence and social skills that are useful and necessary in the real
world? You can¹t hide behind the screen forever so chat rooms might not
always be beneficial.

I totally agree with this article. I think it is a bad idea to use
chatrooms, as well as unproductive. There is so much more to
communication then just words. Facial expressions and gestures are
really important to understanding someone else and those are not
available in chatrooms.