“Women friends build their friendships on a foundation of on going communication or talk” (Gemable and Gamble, 150). This concept seems to be true based on what we have learned, but is able to be furthered to another level. Women value technology more so than men for communication usage and to maintain existing relationships, or build new ones. An article in Cosmopolitan Magazine, titled Are Your Social Skills Sucking, gives a different insight on females communicating through technology. The article opens with the following passage:
”Chances are, you’d give up oxygen before severing your electronic lifelines. But more women are reporting that the less face time they have, even with friends, the more anxious they feel when an in-the-flesh chat is mandatory” (Cosmopolitan).
This was very surprising to me. I knew and fully believe women are more inclined to use tools such as text messaging, AIM, and Facebook to communicate with friends or family. However, it never crossed my mind that as women rely more heavily on these technologies, their social skills decrease. If anything, i would have predicted that men would rely more on technologies to communicate short messages, to actually avoid intimate face-to-face chats. It really makes sense though that since women in fact do use technologies more, their face-to-face communication will be impacted. This makes me wonder how their friendships will be affected since females tend to value trust and a feeling of closeness in relationships. It seems to me that closeness cannot be fully achieved via text messages or emails. Also, an important aspect to consider is trust in regards to less face-to-face communication and more technology. From personal experience, I know that girls are more likely to say something over the internet that they wouldn’t say to one’s face. I feel as if females, especially, are likely to be more sincere when engaged in face-to-face communication. This makes me wonder if trust will lack importance and the connection and closeness decreases with greater technology.
Eagleson, H. Are your social skills sucking?. Cosmopolitan Magazine, Retrieved June 10, 2009, from http://www.cosmopolitan.com/you/advice/social-skills?click=pp
Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
