Parakletos
New Member
In preperation for our term paper we have to turn in a month from now, my English professor wanted us to do 4 pages of pure "free write" which means basically you write about your topic for 4 pages without stopping, even if you have to add bogus thing in it. Its only graded on completion (luckaly for me)
Our topic is how an object we own shows in our personalities. The following was actually truned into my English professor last night. Sorry for the long read, but hopefully worth your time:
When looking at my paper, I realize that I am both am introvert and extrovert in many different ways. My computer reflects both sides of these personality traits. Even though there is a huge stereotype of gamers being unsocial, it is quite the opposite when you view my personality. Although I am always social in groups and like to meet new people, sometimes it can be more fun and different using various different types of communication such as voice chat, Instant messenger, e-mail, and text chat rooms. These tool can be very useful in not only talking with the friends you know in real life, but can also help you meet people with all different personalities, backgrounds, and stages in life. Meeting these new people has given me a understanding and appreciation of different types of people that I may not have today because I would not have been able to meet them in real life. For example, a few years ago a meet Tom, a 17 year old student from England. Before I had meet him, I had no idea of the type of lifestyle of people in UK, what foods they ate, and how important world events effected them. Because of my friendship with Tom, (although to the average person it would not be considered a “real” friendship) I was inspired to actually go to his country and see for myself the country where he lives, and the many aspects of it. And I did. In the Summer of 1999 I visited London, England, and was blown away at how the rest of the world tends to view me as an American. Because of this experience, I have forever in my mind crafted a part of my brain that always allows me to see both sides of an issue rather than just the first view I hear. Without my computer, I would not have meet Tom, gone to England, and had my personality changed for the good of me.
When it comes to communication there are many other benefits the computers give us. Lets say that it’s a Friday night and im on my computer, and my “friend” from my science class Instant messages me asking for my notes. Now being the nice guy that I am, I completely ignore his request. I can get away with this action on my computer and not in real life because if I am on my computer and do not respond, my “friend” could assume that I am not at my computer at the moment and it could be hours before I even see his message. My “friend” doesn’t know I’ve already seen his message, so I can ignore him at will. There is no proof on his end that I read ANY of the messages he sends me. I could not do this is real life, however, because my “friend” could obviously see that I am present, and it would be considered rude of me if I did not reply to what he said directly to me. It would also be considered rude if I didn’t let him barrow my science notes. But with my computer, I can ignore him, and therefore not give him my science note. Me – 2, my friend – 0. I win.
Now imagine this: your in a social setting and you have just been introduced to a person. After the polite exchange of names, it goes into the next stage: the preliminary personality discovering (will I like this person or not?). Suddenly the worst thing happens: she is one of those ditsy blondes who talks at 100 mph about absolutely nothing. And I mean NOTHING. Your friends have abandoned you (probably for good reason) so your stuck with this girl who you can already tell you don’t like, and is talking about how her last dog oh so cutely went “poo poo” on the rug earlier that morning. Now normally, in a person-to-person social situation, all you could do is nod politely while you reach for the nearest fire alarm. On the internet, however, if you start getting into a conversation with someone you cant stand, you can use a variation of excuses. “I have to go, the dog is on fire”, “WHY THE !@#$% IS MY SCREEN WHITE?! Ill be right back…” or my all time favorite “Sorry, my connection must be disconnecting, dad cancelled our subscription last night” would all work wonderfully in these situations.
So lets review: While socializing on the computer, you can meet new people who can challenge you, and if they don’t, you can pretend your getting a fire extinguisher for your dog and get out of the conversation instantly. You finally get the chance to “hang up” to your jerkwad boyfriend without any good reason. Seriously, what could be better than that!?
Another part of my personality that can be reflected in my computer is my introverted side. Introverts in general like to be alone. When it comes to playing my computer games, lets face it, I like to be alone. I don’t always like having people try to point out different things out in my games (just let ME find them out already!) Often times, I will adjust the look and feel of my computer space to indicate that I would like to be left alone (lights).
As you can tell, I am having a lot more of a hard time writing this part of the paper mainly because I haven’t examined my introverted side to a great extend. Mabey its just because I got all fired up over the social part of my paper that now im out of energy to think of anything else creative. Holy cow, I’m supposed to go to four pages?!
Well lets, see. In my computer games I also use verbal communication. If im playing Counter-strike, my favorite team-based game, not only do I have to plan the teams moves round by round and clearly vocalize the plan to my team, but if something unexpected sould happen (the opponents are in drastically different positions than I intended), then I have to vocalize new orders for my team. If the team starts to get into conflicts (which occasionally happens) then I must step in vocalize my personal opinions on the matter (“you guys are acting more immature than junior highers in a nude art gallery”). Because of my great vocalization skills, there usually is no further discussion (probably because they are all laughing at me from behind their monitors, but as I said earlier, how would I know that?). I must also emphasize that this voice capability has actually helped me in my speech. Before I was always told that I talkedsofastthatnoonecouldunderstandmeyouknowwhatimean? Because of the people that I have vocalized to, they made me realize my speaking faults and helped me correct them.
Ok, now I’m seriously out of things to say. Im just thankful I actually don’t have to get up early tomorrow morning to turn this random jumble of thoughts in. I love E-mail.
**UPDATE**
I got an E-mail this morning from my professor:
Matt,
Great start! Keep going. Eventually, get rid of the "you's."
Have a great fall break.
Our topic is how an object we own shows in our personalities. The following was actually truned into my English professor last night. Sorry for the long read, but hopefully worth your time:
When looking at my paper, I realize that I am both am introvert and extrovert in many different ways. My computer reflects both sides of these personality traits. Even though there is a huge stereotype of gamers being unsocial, it is quite the opposite when you view my personality. Although I am always social in groups and like to meet new people, sometimes it can be more fun and different using various different types of communication such as voice chat, Instant messenger, e-mail, and text chat rooms. These tool can be very useful in not only talking with the friends you know in real life, but can also help you meet people with all different personalities, backgrounds, and stages in life. Meeting these new people has given me a understanding and appreciation of different types of people that I may not have today because I would not have been able to meet them in real life. For example, a few years ago a meet Tom, a 17 year old student from England. Before I had meet him, I had no idea of the type of lifestyle of people in UK, what foods they ate, and how important world events effected them. Because of my friendship with Tom, (although to the average person it would not be considered a “real” friendship) I was inspired to actually go to his country and see for myself the country where he lives, and the many aspects of it. And I did. In the Summer of 1999 I visited London, England, and was blown away at how the rest of the world tends to view me as an American. Because of this experience, I have forever in my mind crafted a part of my brain that always allows me to see both sides of an issue rather than just the first view I hear. Without my computer, I would not have meet Tom, gone to England, and had my personality changed for the good of me.
When it comes to communication there are many other benefits the computers give us. Lets say that it’s a Friday night and im on my computer, and my “friend” from my science class Instant messages me asking for my notes. Now being the nice guy that I am, I completely ignore his request. I can get away with this action on my computer and not in real life because if I am on my computer and do not respond, my “friend” could assume that I am not at my computer at the moment and it could be hours before I even see his message. My “friend” doesn’t know I’ve already seen his message, so I can ignore him at will. There is no proof on his end that I read ANY of the messages he sends me. I could not do this is real life, however, because my “friend” could obviously see that I am present, and it would be considered rude of me if I did not reply to what he said directly to me. It would also be considered rude if I didn’t let him barrow my science notes. But with my computer, I can ignore him, and therefore not give him my science note. Me – 2, my friend – 0. I win.
Now imagine this: your in a social setting and you have just been introduced to a person. After the polite exchange of names, it goes into the next stage: the preliminary personality discovering (will I like this person or not?). Suddenly the worst thing happens: she is one of those ditsy blondes who talks at 100 mph about absolutely nothing. And I mean NOTHING. Your friends have abandoned you (probably for good reason) so your stuck with this girl who you can already tell you don’t like, and is talking about how her last dog oh so cutely went “poo poo” on the rug earlier that morning. Now normally, in a person-to-person social situation, all you could do is nod politely while you reach for the nearest fire alarm. On the internet, however, if you start getting into a conversation with someone you cant stand, you can use a variation of excuses. “I have to go, the dog is on fire”, “WHY THE !@#$% IS MY SCREEN WHITE?! Ill be right back…” or my all time favorite “Sorry, my connection must be disconnecting, dad cancelled our subscription last night” would all work wonderfully in these situations.
So lets review: While socializing on the computer, you can meet new people who can challenge you, and if they don’t, you can pretend your getting a fire extinguisher for your dog and get out of the conversation instantly. You finally get the chance to “hang up” to your jerkwad boyfriend without any good reason. Seriously, what could be better than that!?
Another part of my personality that can be reflected in my computer is my introverted side. Introverts in general like to be alone. When it comes to playing my computer games, lets face it, I like to be alone. I don’t always like having people try to point out different things out in my games (just let ME find them out already!) Often times, I will adjust the look and feel of my computer space to indicate that I would like to be left alone (lights).
As you can tell, I am having a lot more of a hard time writing this part of the paper mainly because I haven’t examined my introverted side to a great extend. Mabey its just because I got all fired up over the social part of my paper that now im out of energy to think of anything else creative. Holy cow, I’m supposed to go to four pages?!
Well lets, see. In my computer games I also use verbal communication. If im playing Counter-strike, my favorite team-based game, not only do I have to plan the teams moves round by round and clearly vocalize the plan to my team, but if something unexpected sould happen (the opponents are in drastically different positions than I intended), then I have to vocalize new orders for my team. If the team starts to get into conflicts (which occasionally happens) then I must step in vocalize my personal opinions on the matter (“you guys are acting more immature than junior highers in a nude art gallery”). Because of my great vocalization skills, there usually is no further discussion (probably because they are all laughing at me from behind their monitors, but as I said earlier, how would I know that?). I must also emphasize that this voice capability has actually helped me in my speech. Before I was always told that I talkedsofastthatnoonecouldunderstandmeyouknowwhatimean? Because of the people that I have vocalized to, they made me realize my speaking faults and helped me correct them.
Ok, now I’m seriously out of things to say. Im just thankful I actually don’t have to get up early tomorrow morning to turn this random jumble of thoughts in. I love E-mail.
**UPDATE**
I got an E-mail this morning from my professor:
Matt,
Great start! Keep going. Eventually, get rid of the "you's."
Have a great fall break.
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