Symbolic Interactionism

The symbolic interactionism perspective posed in Chapter 1 really caught my attention. Herbert Blumer coined this term which suggests that social scientists evaluate the relationships between individiuals by studying how they communicate with each other (Blumer, Keirns, Nathan J., Eric Strayer, Heather Griffiths, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff D. Bry, and Faye Jones. Introduction to Sociology 2e. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print). I related this material to what I witness in my everyday life.

In my opinion, technology has taken over traditional communication. Some professors would rather students email or text them instead of face to face consultations. I see young children glued to tablets and smartphones, sending quick pictures to each other or playing games. The symbol of “playing” for me as a kid ,was going outside and using my imagination, and now that symbol has become playing games on phones and interacting in virtual chat rooms etc. The only person I know who still sends hand written letters to friends and relatives is my grandmother. Virtual communication is considered a norm nowadays and I find it a little disconserting.

During my reading, I came upon the concept that family culture has changed a lot over the years and I can attest to that. I recently saw a family of four at a restaurant and both kids had headphones in and were playing games on a touch screen tablet. How sad is that? The mother put menus in front of her kids and they didn’t react at all, she finally tugged at their headphones and motioned to the menu.How have we lost our ability to communicate personally to this extent? As technology dominates our culture, I have even lost sight of what symbolizes a meaningful relationship. I think that people have lost the ability to articulate their thoughts vocally.

I watched an interesting clip from BBC newsround asking the question, “Is Tech Taking Over?” and a young girl was interviewed and asked what she would do without technology and her response was “ if I was not allowed to use technology anymore, I would be lifeless”(http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/35707765). Technology is symbolic to life support for that girl and her relationships depend on it. Herbert Blumer’s theoretical perspective is spot on in my opinion as he states “humans interact with things based on meanings ascribed to those things” (Blumer,Keirns, Nathan J., Eric Strayer, Heather Griffiths, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff D. Bry, and Faye Jones. Introduction to Sociology 2e. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print).