Do we really know eachother?

After reading a few of the student’s first blog posts I realized that this was unlike any class I had ever taken. I am beginning to engage in the lives of people that I had never met before and normal would not have. I sit in my regular day to day classes and usually keep from having any in depth conversation while quietly listening to a teacher lecture and eagerly waiting to get of there as fast as possible. In other words I can say that I do not care much about the students in my classes. I am a very social, happy, bubbly, and friendly person but class is not where I socialize. I see the same students and talk about the class or what needs to be done for homework, but these blogs are a different take on the average college experience.


I must admit that I make judgments on the people that I meet in class. I see the things they wear, the way they interact with their friends or other students, how well they pay attention in class, or how they scribble their notes, but none of that gives the same perception of a person when compared to our blog pages. The real question in my mind is if these blog posts are helping us get to know each other better or only setting a fake path about our lives that are not our true personality? Goffman mentioned that when meeting people in person you see their conception of self, attitude toward others, trustworthiness and many key factors that affect friendship and a true bond. Can we really get to know each other if we are unable to hear the inflections in each other’s voices or see the behavior of daily struggles? Hopefully through comments and finding common interests the internet will be helpful when it comes to communication and not a damper on the course.

As for the question of if any of us have ever met one another in person, I can only think that until we reach out to try to learn more we will never know. I have found that a few students in this class are speech and hearing science just like me and that most likely means we have been in classes together. Will I ever know for sure if we have interacted in person, probably not, but it will definitely be interesting to learn find out.