In Adrian ’s
lecture about the relationship between studying abroad and new technology was
very interesting because I never thought of how having all this new technology
to communicate with could affect the experience of studying abroad. About
twenty years ago when you were studying in a different country, you couldn’t communicate
with family and friends as easily as we can now.
Thinking
about it, I know I wouldn’t be able to last more than a day without
communicating to a friend or family member if I was so far away let alone
multiple weeks or months abroad. Having access to a phone, texting, internet,
email, Facebook, and Skype make it one hundred times easier to communicate with
anyone in any part of the world.
With the technology we have now,
being in a different country doesn’t feel as scary. You have GPS that can help
you get anywhere, translation applications to help you communicate with people
who speak a different language and other things of that sort. You don’t get to experience
it the old fashion way which is probably the best way of getting to really know
and see a different country. You almost need that culture shock to get to the
mastery level. Staying in the honeymoon level doesn’t let you learn anything.
After
listening to Adrian ’s
lecture, I definitely think I will try not to use my phone, internet, Skype or
any other kind of communication devices if I ever study abroad. Living the
whole experience of being in a different country and interacting with a
different culture would definitely be more amazing without the reliance on
technology as much.
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you introduced a different form of new media, the GPS. With number of people who have smart phones going up, the number of people who have a built in GPS at their disposal is also rising. I also wrote on Stoner's lecture. I discussed how the technology that I plan to bring with me during my study abroad experience would allow me to connect back home whenever I wanted. However, I didn't even think about the extra technology that I have within my technology. If I were to get lost in the streets of London without a mobile device that had a GPS, it wouldn't do much good to try and call someone back home. Even though calling home, if only to complain, would be a way of comforting myself, it still wouldn't get me to my destination ( so I would still be a bit scared, worried, and disoriented. However, with my smart phone I could pull out my phone and easily find where I was going. This would definitely impact the culture shock phase that Stoner talked about.