Raphaella Marie Gupiteo Interdisciplinary Studies Marketing 2-B

Synthesis Paper - Concepts of Virtual Communication

The global community is growing and will most likely continue to grow in the coming
years. Worldwide interaction is made possible by various technological advancements
which paves the way to a borderless community. Virtual communication has both positive
and negative effects on today’s globalized society and if influences and shapes the way
that people live and think which is why there is a need to look into this idea. This paper
will be looking into virtual communication based on three texts namely “Disjuncture and
Difference in the Global Cultural Economy” by Arjun Appadurai, “The Psychology Behind
Social Media Interactions” by Liraz Margalit, Ph.D., and “Subterrania” by Luis Joaquin
Katigbak, under disciplines that are Economics, Psychology, and Literature.

Globalization is seen as both an opportunity and a threat in Appadurai’s

Disjucnture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy, wherein he emphasized its
effects on local culture. As people are adapting to the common culture brought on by
global influences, cultural homogenization takes effect, which leads to a reduction in
cultural diversity. With his meta theory of disjuncture stating “new global cultural economy
has to be seen as a complex, overlapping, disjunctive order,” Appadurai identified a
framework that looks into five dimensions of global cultural flow in order to explore the
complexity of the current global economy. Among these ‘landscapes’ are ethnoscapes
which deals with the dispersion of people across cultures and borders; technoscapes
which refer to the flow of technologies; financescapes which is the flow of capital;
mediascapes that goes into the flow of media in various forms; and ideoscapes which
explores ideas and ideologies. The ‘scapes’ identified are scrutinized in a global context
and how it interrelates with each other. This text describes how global interaction
influence people and cultures.

On the other hand, The Psychology Behind Social Media compares social
interaction in face-to-face and online communication. Margalit asserts that face-to-face
communication “requires more emotional involvement and cognitive effort,” as opposed
to online discussions. As Face-to-face communication is thought to be Online
communication in this text is through social media as it facilitates a virtual form of
interaction. One of their distinction is the ability to hide emotions better which online
communication offers. Even with less words and more nonverbal cues such as facial
expressions, body language, the tone of voice, recipients are still able to understand the
flow of the conversation in virtual communication.

In the final text, a world referred to as Subterrania was described to be detached

from the real world. The story talks about Kaye and her subterrania where she is happy
to be hidden from the rest of the world. Kaye finds comfort in the idea that she is cut off
from reality but never really explained why. She did clarify, however, that the things she
seems to be more interested in now have always been important to her – various forms
of media such as TV, books, and CDs. She alluded to preferring virtual world despite it
being flawed because she found a certain beauty within them because she thought it was
better than facing a life of uncertainty.

These three texts have presented completely different topics – one discussed
global culture, the other spoke about social media interaction, and finally another told a
story about seclusion and detachment from reality. These concepts, however, overlap in
a way which they all focus on virtual communication and media dependence. Media
dependency is a theory, developed by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur, which
states that “the more dependent an individual is on the media for having his or her needs
fulfilled, the more important the media will be to that person.”

The reason why people are more inclined to communicate in online or digital
platforms could be attributed to the world being so flawed as to drive them into wanting
to be in-control of their lives and being able to control what image they project to people.
Virtual communication is able to distribute electronic capabilities and disseminate
information through both technoscapes and mediascapes which reinforces reliance on
digital communication. The need for social interaction and acceptance is evident in the
three texts as people continuously make the effort to adapt with other people’s lifestyles
and please them by trying to give them the impression that they are attractive or
interesting.

Techno- and mediascapes, discussed in Disjuncture and Difference in the Global

Cultural Economy, serves as the common ground between these three texts as virtual
communication is the bridge between cultures and can connect people without the
complexities of direct interaction, as discussed in The Psychology Behind Social Media
Interactions. In Subterrania, Kaye mentioned that “there is something wonderful about the
separation from reality” wherein people in their virtual playgrounds were hidden from the
real world.