What Is Authenticity In The Era Of Digital Technology Research Paper

What Is Authenticity In The Era Of Digital Technology - Research Paper Example Communication in the present age also known as digital communication is not one by which information is shared between two people as it is only reflective of exchange of data. Cellular phones which were seldom seen only a few years back are now seen everywhere providing excellent means of facilitated communication between people and the Internet has also played a revolutionary role in helping people access anything in the world through only a few clicks. Research has repeatedly stressed that teen involvement in different types of electronic activities like chatting either via cellular phones or the internet has increased to such an extent that the youth presently has become extremely obsessive with using various communicative media. Burge’s research is worth mentioning here as it deals with highlighting how people in relationships engage in emotional communication via different media like the internet, cellular phones, and visual texts. This research is based on contemplating how technology influences the coordination between two people in a relationship. For this purpose, people’s behavior when they interact via communicative media is observed and later assessed with the help of their internal experiences. The purpose of this research paper is also to evaluate the relationship between technology and communication in an attempt to answer the bigger question of what is authenticity in the present digital age. Just like the Industrial revolution brought about an immense change in the lives of workers, the technology also in the present age has totally changed the way of communication. It has enormously changed the way people communicate with each other and even impacted their emotions. This is because â€Å"sociological, psycholinguistic, and interpersonal studies suggest that people have non-information related goals in moment to moment interaction† (Clark, cited in Burge). Non-information related goals refer to the desire to convey or communicate emotion which becomes especially important when people engage in close bonding. The researchers debating on the subject of authenticity in the present era of digital technology often carry research to find out if â€Å"current communication technologies support a full range of communication activities and purposes, most notably the communication of emotion?† (Burge). The need to realize the impact produced by different communicativ e media on the communication of emotions should be acknowledged by everyone. It is argued that authenticity is constrained by digital communication as this form of communication does not support a wide range of communication purposes like conveying emotions. This is because people increasingly fake their true identities when communicating via Internet mediums like Facebook or MySpace because they feel insecure about sharing their real feelings otherwise. Not only that teenagers have become addicted to using IMs to communicate with each other, research has it that â€Å"many companies have found that employees benefit from text-based interactions as a result of introducing instant messaging systems into the workplace† (Erickson and Kellogg, cited in Burge). Such changed pattern of communication thanks to the widespread use of mobile phones and the internet has led to the development of a new way of building relationships. The concept of online dating is just one product of thi s new pattern of technology influenced communication. People in the old age had to practically meet somewhere or write letters to each other to further relationship as a way of getting to know each other. This all changed with the advent of technology because now people enjoy the limitless freedom of communicating with each other though they may be separated by thousands of miles. There are limitless opportunities now available to