Technology as a whole has affected the way I learn and grow, but there is a certain significance forums have had on my development that I want to talk about. This is not in the traditional scholastic sense, but forums have helped me develop from a social point of view. From a very young age, I was never one to keep many close friends. In conversation, I was never the most well spoken (especially over the phone). It may sound odd, but forums have actually helped me develop those skills I was lacking for so long.
When I write or type, my mind is not tethered to a particular situation. My mind seems to have the right idea most of the time, but the words never seemed to come out right when I was talking to most people in person. By having this venue to speak my mind, over time I realized I could learn how to adapt this to everyday conversation. I started to develop a certain attitude toward social interaction, that I shouldn't worry so much about what others thought of my opinion.
Developing relationships through forums helped me build relationships in the real world, and gave me the confidence to speak my mind clearly without worrying about what others thought. I know this is not learning in the traditional sense, but it was very important to me that I learn these things. I can honestly say these are some of the most important things I have learned through technology, and I know I am not the only one who went through the same things. I still have some trouble in these situations at times, but technology gave me the tools I needed to get a good head start.
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5 comments:
I completely agree with you about forums. Before Friendster, MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter their were forums! I think forums are a much better communication technology than MySpace and FaceBook. I always found forums to be really fun and engaging. I have had similar experiences with forums as you.
Back during middle school and high school I was posting 20 to 25 thousand posts a year on various forums. I was very active a couple different forums. I was admin and mod on a couple different forums.
Forums are great, but they also can lead to a lot of drama. No matter where you go their is always people fighting and acting rude. Similar to real life. Like you said, forums are great way to develop your social skills. I completely agree.
The only problem is people act a lot different on these forums. Sometimes this is good, sometimes its bad. I would not tell someone not to use forums, because of this though.
I think forums can be a great tool. Along with IRC, forums was a way for me to become a better typist. When I was younger I could only type 35 words a minute when I first got my computer. After a summer on forums and IRC I went up to about 80, and now I can type 100 to 110. The reason why it helped me become a better typist was because I wanted to reply as fast as possible and get my point across.
Forums are also a great way to learn information. I've found tons of helpful tutorials on HTML, PHP, Photoshop, that have helped me. Their are even communities like Talk Freelance where you can sell your work.
I think that the web alone has improved my social skills, let alone social networking sites. I started e-mailing in high school,
which was the beginning of social networking, with forwards of chain letters and surveys to take. Each played a part in helping me develop better social skills.
I use Myspace occassionally, however, I am not one to check my profile every day. I like to stay in touch with people I don't see often. Sites like this take most of the awkward feelings away when you start mingling with the web community. Even though I do not necessarily partake in them all of the time I do agree that they have been useful to me and still very useful to others.
I am also a forum addict. They have helped me many times while playing a game and to become more social. I think I spend more time talking to people on a forum than I do in real life.
I also agree with Matt about all of the drama that can be involved. No matter what forum am I viewing, there is always someone or a group of people that seem to be arrogant enough to post something just to irritate an individul. While I may poke fun at someone for being a "noob", I do it as a joke and usually to let that person know that I've been there before. Other's do it just to be mean and hateful. They use anonimity to spread hate and disruption.
Oddly enough, I have actually stopped using most forums. It helped me a lot in the past, but at least for now I don't really have a major use for them. Anything I need to know about Design I can usually find on my own, and if I need feedback I usually turn to DeviantArt.
There are a few select forums that have benefited me for Web Design, but I still find drama on forums that are supposed to be for professionals and freelancers. I find enough drama in real life, I don't need it in the digital world too.
I also do not use forums as often anymore. I only use them for information purposes for the most part. Either to find out news on a band I like, download stuff, or I may find a good tutorial. But I do not think I have read a tutorial for at least a year or two.
I use to get feedback from forums on my graphics but it just seems like most communities its all about whether someone likes or dislikes you. If they do not like you they will not say anything good about your piece. If they like you then you might make something terrible and they will still like it. I never found DeviantArt to have any good feedback either. I generally only ask people I know that will tell me the truth about my work. Finding that in an online community is rare in my experiences.
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