Week 11: Clear/Communication Via E-Mail

This week's lesson was on information systems, and I found it quite difficult to identify a topic of interest for me to write about in my blog.  But while I was reading through chapter 12 of the textbook, I came across an article that caught my eye.  Although it is indirectly related to the subject matter of the chapter, I figured since it was in the book that it was fair game.  It has to do with an ethical issue, and the name of the article is "Does E-Mail make You Lie More?"

The main premise of the article discusses a study that was conducted on whether or not people are more likely to lie to someone via e-mail, as opposed to talking in person.  According to the study, 50% of people lied more when writing business-related e-mail messages than they did when writing with pen and paper.  Another study showed that people are more likely to lie via e-mail to co-workers than they are to strangers.  Researchers offer a number of reasons for the results of the various studies.  For example, one researcher found that people act in self-serving ways when typing, as opposed to writing by hand.  Others claim that the anonymous nature of sitting, perhaps miles away from a faceless e-mail recipient, simply makes people colder; or that the lack of facial cues, tone, and eye contact largely are to blame.

I found a website that correlated with this topic, which I found interesting.  It talked about how middle school and high school students are now being bullied on-line via instant messaging, text messaging, and e-mail.  Fifty-two percent of the students surveyed said that they indeed had at some point encountered bullying through these means.  I find this to be very disturbing, but it proves the point of the article in the textbook... that people in general are more likely to lie, bully, or disregard the feelings of the recipient on the other side, as long as the communication is not face to face.  I think this goes to show the transformation of our society as technology becomes more prevalent.

Websites cited:  http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/adults/cyber-bullying.aspx