This or That?

For my last entry for communication blog today, I would like to talk about mass media. Functions of media include surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission as well as entertainment. The very visible and obvious example regarding this would most probably be the advertisement we have today. As we turn on the television every day, advertisements and commercials would be coming our way one after another.

“The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.”

Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan argues that medium is more important than the message. This is because; he thinks that how we deliver is more significant than what we deliver. Also, medium has the power to change the way we live and experience the world.

Television, being one of the most popular medium of conveying information, is widely available all around the world. Almost all the residents living in Singapore have at least one television; and it would most probably be placed in the living room. Most of us do watch television almost every day, because we need to get ourselves updated with a variety of information, be it the news, sports or even fashion. For this reason, companies have put up commercials in between shows we’re watching. They have chosen perfectly fitting time for these commercials to be aired, often timed to reach most audience members.

In order for the advertisement to attract more audiences, most companies would pick the best medium, as medium is the message regardless of what you’re conveying. Not only that, since media functions as an entertainment too, therefore, it has made even clearer that the basic medium is television. Not only it is entertaining, television has also become the new educator in most households. Thus, it has made it even simpler for messages and information to be conveyed. For every fifteen minutes we spent watching a show, we’ll get a five minutes commercial break.

However, until today, audiences are always the active consumers, meaning, they will always have the ability to resist media messages. According to the limited effects theory, audiences can clearly seek out the competing media messages according to their own needs rather than being influenced by all of them. As to further elaborate, active audiences tend to focus on watching advertisements of the same kind in order to make the best choice.

For instance,

Which of these two would you prefer?

Clairol’s product have a ordinary standard way of dying hair, whereas the Japanese brand, Prettia Soft Bubble Hair Color allows you to just apply the foam of the dye and shampoo them on the hair. Obviously, it is more convenient to use the hair dye like a shampoo rather than having such complicated steps to follow when using Clairol’s. However, this may not make the audiences decide on which one to buy just comparing this aspect, still, more aspects such as the price and availability are put into consideration. Therefore, limited effects theory is well defined.

Spotlighting on Ryan Higa

Nowadays we see advertisements everywhere. We’ve been surrounded by commercials everyday; from the television to the internet, from the flyers to the billboard.
Here’s a sample of an advertisement not found in television broadcast commercials, but uniquely available in the internet.



The producer, Ryan Higa, well known as Nigahiga, is a one of the most popular vloggers (video bloggers) in Youtube. He had made many videos with his friends, all of which are hilarious. In this short advertisement clip, he is obviously conveying a message to introduce the audiences about his product, Hook on Fonik. He used a powerful mass media as the medium to pass on the messages. He even made his ad most influential as he could by getting feedbacks from his so-called customers, regardless of whether his audiences are active or passive. Just to add on to the effectiveness of selling the product, he even gives promotions in a very special way. After finished watching the advertisement, and to assume that it is true, do you think you would buy his product?

On a completely unrelated note, still spotlighting on Ryan Higa, I’ve seen many of his hilarious videos which I believe most would not dare to do because he doesn’t mind acting silly or stupid in front of the camera. I am sure most people would feel embarrassed if they were to do something like that, because I do. Anyhow, of all the videos I’ve seen, I would like to conclude that Ryan Higa is an individualist, who is quite honest in some ways. Also, he does not care how people look and think of him.

Do you fart? Well, yes, all of us do. But do we let it out proudly in public? That, I don’t think so. Now, do you make a video about fart? Let’s watch the following video.



Most of us think that farting in public is impolite, and more than half of these sums think that farting is immature, according to Ryan Higa in the video. Therefore, as a viewer, it is very noticeable for me that he is categorized as an individualist, because he thinks differently from others. He does not follow what the community thinks about fart. He has a mind of his own which he feels comfortable with.

To further illustrate, there’s another video clip about how he thinks about nosy people.



Would you criticize about nosy people in public with your friends or just keep it to yourself? Because Ryan Higa isn’t afraid to even make a video just to talk about nosy people. See how he acts like an individualist?

However, all these are merely my personal opinion about Ryan Higa, and have no means of criticism. In fact, it is part of my admiration towards him.

A moment not to be forgotten

Another unit of communication had just been wrapped up in last weeks’ lectures, and the topic covered was about group communication. Having known to all, group communication is about communicating in a group. Nevertheless, there are many things going around in a group communication, where even we, being the members of the group might not figure it out. If we think about it long and hard enough, group communication actually plays an important role in our lives.

More than half of the time, we are actually communicating in a group rather than just chatting with another person. Depending on how you interpret it, the size of a group may vary. Even having three persons hanging out together can be counted as a group, perhaps a small group. Therefore, communicating in a group is simply inevitable in lives, for we would be making friends and hang out together, otherwise just doing some group project with our group mates assigned by the instructor and so on.

In our own groups, we give support and full commitment to our members; we help each other out in many ways. For example, we usually need a group to make complex decisions, and also criticisms; after all, criticisms help to improve us in one way or another.

I remember when I first attended my college last year; my English course lecturer gave the class a marketing project to follow. She assigned us into groups of six. In my group I was chosen as the leader, which I am definitely not good at. I never had the ability to lead, hence, being the leader, I was really a slow one. I have no idea at all what I should do, being a follower as I had always been, my mind was a total blank at that very moment. Nonetheless, having assigned to a group of new friends, I was glad though. My group mates never gave up on me. They supported me all the way until the presentation, which was the last part of the whole project. Without them, I wouldn’t have done a good job that was presentable.

During the time when we worked together as a group, my group mates took their responsibilities and played their respective roles without needing me to worry about them as I was already had a lot to worry about myself, whether or not I was able to play my part as a leader.

As said, I could never have done it successfully without them. For that reason, I knew that group projects were never easy unless all the group members really take the initiative to work together and support each other in every way possible.

With that said, I wish all the communication groups good luck and have fun working with your own group members.

Two is better than one

Has it ever come across your mind how a couple got together?

Have you ever thought why love happens?

Well, everything happens for a reason, don’t they?

According to the Knapp model of relational development, relationship develops in 10 stages, 2 phases, namely the “coming together” phase from stages 1 to 5, and “coming apart” phase in the rest of the stages.

All the while we thought about how love happens and this and that, songs writers are actually already conveying the messages through love songs, giving us a hint on all there is about love and chemistry. Songs include all the stages from the beginning till the end, almost like a story, if you tried concluding a few songs that you know of.

Although relationship develops in stages as said, it doesn’t mean that when you fall in love, you are bound to follow the steps strictly.

Has love always been that easy? If so, why do some people so afraid to fall in love?

Nonetheless, despite the sweet moments and all that a couple had gone through, be it the thick and thin, there are still many divorcing cases occurring in the world today.

But why does still happen after they have their vows taken? Are they not taking the marriage seriously?

From stage 6 onwards according to Knapp model of relational development are known as the “coming apart” phase. No matter how much a couple had been through the tough times, it is no surprise that they can still end up splitting.

It actually starts to occur when a couple undergoes stage 6, named the differentiating stage. Conflict often occurs between them, even for a very small matter. They could fight over for almost anything. Then moving on, after a big fight, they tend to keep quiet and rather have a silent conversation. If this kind of conversation continues and no one bothers to make up, things will get worse. Slowly going through the motions of a relationship, they would somewhat try to avoid each other so as to also avoid awkward moments. Later on, they would take up the hint and start terminating the relationship. Soon, they will no longer care about what the other does and take no initiative to converse. That’s when most divorces take place, and both parties will then move on from the relationship and go their separate ways.

For instance, one of the high profile couples, Katie Price and Peter Andre is already starting the legal proceedings to end their marriage. Things may not be what they seem. Perhaps divorce is the only solution to keep them moving on.

Everyone thought both the parties could have stayed in the relationship, but it would not change the fact that “coming apart” phase has taken place.

It's what you're not saying

What attracts you most when you first meet someone?

His voice, eyes, skin color, appearance, hair or smile?

Whatever it may be, the body language can tell a lot about the person himself, without even needing to make a sound. Many of the things that you’ve said did not come out of your mouth. That’s what it is all about, the nonverbal communication. It’s just a look and awareness and understanding. It’s also like a discovery, an ability to tell yourself and others who you are, and what you’re capable of, a way to get what you want.

This is also why the phrase ‘action speaks louder than words’ mean so much in this.

Usually, body language and gestures do not tell lies; it’s the mouth that speaks the otherwise. Therefore, observing body language rather than fully paying attention to what a person says can be helpful to determine whether or not the person is lying. In short, it’s the truth versus the lies. Normally, you are able to observe some of the signs that tell us most about that person before someone starts speaking. Also, different positions as well as firmness of hands and legs correspond to what the mind is up to.

I’m sure many of you have ever heard of Supernatural, am I not right? This series has been aired for quite some time already, and now the newest season of Supernatural has started. I’ve just seen the very first episode of its Season 5, and I found out that they used a lot of nonverbal communication to convey very significant and yet discreet information to the viewers.

There was a scene where Nick woke up suddenly from his sleep, after he felt blood all over his body as well as on his bed. When he stood up and turned on his end table lamp, the blood he felt and saw before disappeared. He actually showed us how fearful and anxious he was although he did not say a thing. It was merely his actions and gestures that are telling us that he was very terrified. For example, he breathed heavily and his eyes were very big which almost his eyeballs could pop out in any minute.

Also, there was a scene where Becky received a video call from her idol, Carver Edlund, she was so surprised and excited that she could barely speak. But if she did not speak, how did we know she was happy. That is why nonverbal communication plays such a big role in life. Even when she started speaking, her tone and voice pitch went up and down and a little bit trembling, it shows that she was unable to control her own voice because she was overjoyed.

Eye contact is also one of the most powerful communications. When in hesitations, one’s eyes tend to move left and right, hence, not focusing on something. So from there, we know that this person is uncertain.

To be brief, nonverbal communication is what you are not saying.

Language-based Barriers to Communication

It’s almost a month since the day I came to this place. It is a whole new environment for me. For my last visit to Singapore before this, dates back to the past 10 years. Therefore, everything has changed a lot; the town, shopping centres, lots and houses, a lot more. So, for my experience living in Singapore, I would like to say that I want to start from scratch. I do not know at all how people here communicate; the way they speak, or express themselves. For we are all human, there is always a common way to communicate, that is by using verbal communication. The beauty of language allows us to converse, exchange thoughts and speak up our mind.

Even so, language can also become a barrier and lead to miscommunication. For example, speaking mandarin to Japanese who doesn’t know Chinese can lead to many misunderstandings. Although sometimes we are able to communicate using the same language, misinterpretation can still occur, which is an example of the language-based barriers to communication.

To illustrate, my communication class instructor divided us into groups in the beginning of the semester, each with 5 to 6 persons. And the groups are to be maintained and work together for the rest of the communication course semester. I was grouped with 5 Singaporeans, which made me the odd one out. Our first task was to make a video to introduce ourselves and we were to do it with our assigned group members. While we were holding a meeting to discuss about the theme, one of my group members suggested a Singaporean comedy show. And during then, I was so blur, I didn’t know what they were talking about. Being the international student that I am, I do not know anything about the television shows. Thus, I kept quiet for the whole time the meeting was held.

During the silent moment that I have had, I felt alienated. I was not able to give any comments or opinions; all I knew was just to nod my head and agree to whatever they were saying. After all, keeping quiet is just another form of communication. Thanks to my group members for being so considerate by showing me the video of the show to give me an idea of what they had been discussing about.

Just to give another concrete evidence, my housemate who is also an international student, and I were involved in another grouping incident in ESL 407, an English course. Since we are foreigners, we do not have anything in common to talk about with others; as a result, finding a group was not easy. We ended up doing the project in a group of two. Despite that, we finally did find a group to join, and that was only because our ESL 407 instructor didn’t want the number of groups to exceed 5.

Fat or Skinny?

Over the decades, women have been dying to be thin, or at least what they think is gorgeous. However, in a time long, long ago, where people live without technologies; no television, no game stations, no computers, no nothing, fats are more welcome in women especially in the Chinese culture. The Chinese ancient women think that having more meat and flesh on their bones means they could mother more children, whereas those who are skinny and left only skin and bones are not capable of doing the same. Also, women with more flesh back in the past were mostly born with silver spoons in their mouths. Not forgetting to mention, they are more likely to get married quicker rather than the ones with ‘gorgeous’ figures most of us think nowadays.

But why has the fashion desire changed for the bony ones? Well of course, fashion always changes. For a moment, straight hair was so popular that every female you can find on the streets had been to the saloon and did some hair straightening. The next thing we know, hair perming overtakes in the world of fashion again. Anyways, according to one magazine article I have read online, Fashionable Fat, the author of the article, Shane Watson, mentioned that they’ve been predicting the return of the ‘real figure’ in fashion for months.

Does that mean the fleshy body figure is now becoming more and more popular and fashionable?

Let’s take an example from the article, legs used to be classed as beefy are now the most desirable legs in town. Models are dying to be thin on the catwalk. Consequently, there are already a few cases saying that models collapsed in a catwalk due to insufficient nutrients in their bodies. But why is this so? When they want to look good even in a kids wear, they would be dying to stay thin, and in order to do so, they would go anorexic.

The world has once again changed, for the better or the worse. The article clearly states that fashion world has been overtaken by the ‘fats’. Even so, that doesn't mean people with a not-so-gorgeous body figure wouldn’t be able to live in a society like that. Since fashion always changes, it doesn’t indicate that one must go with the flow. Does look even play a significant role in our life? Well, in one way or another, it’s a yes, but one thing’s for sure; beauty doesn’t follow you throughout your life, especially when you grow older and older, the beauty that once was yours, now covered in wrinkles.

So why care? Good figures do not always mean the prettiest, it is just what people think, their perspective.