Lesson 5

Purposive Communication
Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT
 Lesson 8
Communication and Technology
Module 8-Week 8

Hello, my dear students!

We cannot deny the effect and the great impact of social media on
communication and our lives. From the moment we wake up and sleep, we update
and tell the world about it.

But are you even aware of the length and depth of its impact on you and
your life? To know more about social media's effects, flip this page, and enjoy the
rest of this module!

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

✓ Demonstrate knowledge about the use of social media;
✓ Identify the positive and negative dimensions of the use of technology in communication;
and
✓ Reflect on the use of social media through an essay.

Rate yourself based on your knowledge about the use of technology for communication. Use
the table below for your self-rating.

COMMUNICATION PRACTICES YES NO NOT SURE

1. Whenever I make a public post on social
media, I first review my post's content and
language. I will ‘think before I click.’
2. In using technology when communicating a
message, I am mindful of the tool's strengths
and weaknesses.

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 3. In using technology when communicating a
message, I vary the language depending on
the tool I use.
4. Although I value communication
technology, I also spend time on face-to-
face interaction with people.
5. In using technology when communicating a
message, I respect the privacy of individuals
concerned in the message.

Please be guided by the following questions as you navigate the discussion of the first lesson:

1. What is social media?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media?

3. How social media have affected communication?

COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Social media can be described as the collection of online
platforms that involve sharing and collaborating with an online
community by posting, commenting, and interacting with one
another.

Today's most commonly used social media platforms are

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTS ON COMMUNICATION

Around 3 billion people use social media today, which means that 40% of the world uses social
media for communication. It’s no surprise that this widespread use has social media effects on
communication.

11% of adults reported preferring staying home on Facebook than going out on the weekend.
Communication is affected in ways such as personal expression, our expectations of others, and how
companies communicate with customers.

EXPOSURE TO MESSAGING
1. INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Many people tend to binge on social media, spending

hours and hours scrolling through sites. Ultimately, this may lead
to a constant craving for more internet and more social media
consumption. The more people get, the more they want —
and it’s hard to stop the cycle.

2. YOUNG PEOPLE READ NEWS

Social media has made rereading the news cool.

According to Wibbitz, 23% of young users get news from
social media, and a whopping 61% get political information
from Facebook. People share exciting news on social
media, and they can follow various news sources’ pages.

3. GETTING THE FULL PICTURE

Stories — a part of Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook — mean

that people get the full picture of an event, activity, or occurrence in
someone’s life. We no longer get a snapshot of a home-cooked meal;
we might see the entire process from start to finish.
This has changed the way people think about what to post —
there is lesser effort t and thought put into a post when it is a story that
will be gone after 24 hours.

4. BOREDOM IN CONVERSATION

Here’s a sad social media effect on

communication. We are becoming bored when
we have real, in-person conversations. People have
such a need for social media consumption. That
instant, colorful feedback only social media can
give, they will often become bored during real
conversations, resorting to their phones. This can

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 lead to a decrease in the quality and number of meaningful conversations.

5. REACTIONS TO NON-VERBAL, EMOTIONAL, AND SOCIAL CUES

In-person reactions to non-verbal, emotional, or social cues are changing. People don’t
need to respond to these types of communication when they are online. This leads to less
experience and awareness of others’ needs based on these cues that can only be received
from in-person contact.

SELF EXPRESSION
1. SENSE OF URGENCY
No one has to wait for longer than a few hours for a
response, and people have come to expect that timeline for
conversations. There is so much of a sense of urgency that
people are often anxious if they haven’t heard back from a
family member, friend, or partner in several hours.

2. NEED TO SHARE
Social media has created a feeling
among users that they must share whatever
they are doing — from restaurant orders to
concerts, to reading books.
This need can be a social media positive
effect because people are getting more
exposure to things they might not otherwise,
such as new reads. However, it can also be a
negative effect. It can urge people to become dependent on posting anything occurring in
their own lives and painting those occurrences as rosier than they genuinely are

3. HOW WE VALUE OURSELVES

When people see others having a wonderful life, as

represented on social media, they tend to have a negative self-
image and start to devalue their ways of life. Also, there is a
feeling of needing to paint an inaccurately positive and ‘fun’
version of one’s own life, which leads to feelings of negativity
about one’s ‘real’ life.

4. INSIDE PERSPECTIVE OF AFAR

One of the positive effects of social media is
getting an intimate view of other cultures and
places. With social media, especially on Instagram,
users can see what others are doing around the
world. People are exposed to travel ideas, new
cultures, and ways of life, unlike before.

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 5. BROADCASTING LIVE

Broadcasting live started as a fun, innocent idea to share life’s

moments. Still, it’s transformed into a large part of political
movements, sharing some dark aspects of today’s society. The
option to post live videos has created an essential platform for
severe issues that need to be spoken.

6. PERSONALIZED DIGITAL MESSAGES

Both Instagram and Snapchat have popularized a highly personalized message. People
can now wholly change their faces with selfie filters, draw pictures to send to friends and more.
Creativity soars, which is a great thing, but people can start to spend too much time
personalizing picture messages.

COMMUNICATION STYLE

1. SUMMARIZED WRITING

Starting with the limited character text

messaging of the 2000s, and nowadays with the 140-
character tweet, messages have been getting
shorter and more concise. Other communication
areas have adapted for summarized writing, such as
shortened work memos, condensed academic
communication between students and professors,
and shortened messages in advertising.

2. ABBREVIATIONS

The abbreviated communication style became popular

when text messaging started in the 2000’s has continued into
online conversations. It has also made its way into traditionally
non-abbreviated forms such as spoken language, e-mail
communication, and even academic writing forms.

This communication style has caused concern among

some academics. Citing studies show causation between
“textese” and adverse effects on literacy skills such as writing
skills and reading accuracy. Other studies show that using
“textese” does not affect spelling ability or correct grammar
use.

3. UNFILTERED INTERACTIONS

Social media and internet interactions offer a veil between the person sending and the person
receiving the message. These interactions are no longer face-to-face, leading to unfiltered
conversations as people feel they can say anything with no repercussions.

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 4. GIFS AND EMOJIS

The introduction of using emojis to illustrate a written message or a GIF to

express a reaction may seem fun and innocent. Still, it is also interfering with our
ability to craft a written response properly. It ends up being too tempting to
respond with a small picture or a funny moving photo than to use the mind to
create a reaction with words from scratch.

5. VIRAL MESSAGES

That quick and easy “share” button on so many social media

platforms has led to the phenomenon of “going viral.” Messages, videos,
and other content can be easily shared between platforms with millions
of people in a matter of days.

RESPONSIBLE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has grown in popularity over the years, with hundreds of options for sharing your
thoughts, photos, and videos and for interacting with friends and family. The more it grows,

The more we discover about the do's and don'ts of social media. The same rules apply to all
social media playgrounds, regardless of which site is your favorite. There are some practices for
engaging in responsible social media use and best practices for social site etiquette.

We all have a social responsibility. We all have friendships and professional relationships that
can either be helped or hindered by our social media presence.

Imagine you post inappropriate selfies of your weekend activities on Instagram. Have you
considered what your boss will think? What if you say something spiteful after a fight with a friend and
then realize they saw it before you could delete it? You may have just lost a friendship over social
media silliness. You are 100 percent responsible for everything that appears on your social media
accounts, from your status updates and comments to pictures, videos, and links you share

1. You may not agree with everything or everyone you encounter on social media networks,
but treat each person with dignity and respect. The Golden Rule of treating others how you
want to be treated is a good practice.
2. Do not turn to social media as a way to harass, demean, or bully someone else. Sitting in
front of a computer screen does not give you license to embarrass, intimidate, or spread
hurtful rumors about others.
3. Regardless of your privacy settings, keep in mind that anything can possibly be seen by
anyone at any time, even by that person that you did not want to see it. Pause before you
post, think before you click.
4. Whether you're concerned with maintaining good friendships or future job prospects, be
responsible in what you post and how it could affect your reputation. Many employers now
check up on job candidates' social media accounts for evidence of bad behavior.

Something to Ponder on!

Social media have become a very powerful communication tool and platform in the new era
of technology and globalization. In the early beginnings of social media, the usual reaction would be,
“I have ideas or feelings and I can share these to the world through social media as a platform.”

Today, however, most millennials would claim, “I have access to social media, so I have to have
an idea. I have to have a feeling or emotion that I can share with the world.”

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 This attitude has led to the proliferation of fabricated or exaggerated emotions, with the hope of
getting many ‘likes’ or receiving many ‘comments’, which have become the norm for social
acceptance. What can you say about this? Consider this article in reacting to this phenomenon:

While is it true that we have real friends whom we can rely on in the real world, there is that
ubiquitous itch that we have to post something, with the hope of ‘friends’ liking it, sharing it, or
commenting on it. A hundred likes and a few comments would suffice; couple these with shares and
threads and it would be ecstatic, even if those who supposedly liked or commented on it remain
detached to how we actually feel.

Social media give us friends who will tell us who we are based on how we project ourselves in
that virtual environment.

The technology that is supposed to help us connect and communicate with people by showing
the ‘real us’ is the very technology that prompts us to give others a false impression of who we really
are.

Is this the purpose of social media? Are we using this powerful platform appropriately?

(an excerpt from the article “Refusing to be Alone Together” by Tejada, K. 2017)

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN TECH-BASED COMMUNICATION

Modern technology did not only usher in new forms of language used in new media, but also
paved the way on how communication takes place and how messages are presented. Part of
communication planning is deciding on the platform in which the message will be presented. In some
cases, the use of technology will do wonders for your presentation.

Multimedia presentations often always require the use of technology, and these, when used
properly, can do wonders for your presentation. They are visually-oriented and allow multimodality and
the use of such features as text, graphics, photos, audio, animations, and video.

There are a wide array of presentation software and tools to choose from, some of which are free
and very user-friendly, that is, you do not need training to be able to utilize the software and maximize
its features. Regardless of the software or technological tool that you use, there are a few factors that
you need to bear in mind in using technology as an aid to communication:

1. Keep it simple. Avoiding including too much information in a graphic or in one slide. The
message should be immediate and clear. By keeping the visual material simple, you also
maintain maximum personal contact with your audience
2. Emphasize only on key ideas. When you call attention to ideas with a graphic presentation,
make sure the graphic clearly illustrates your essential points and the important supporting
data.
3. Show what you can’t say. The best use of visual media is to reveal material you can’t easily
describe orally or with written text. Graphics, photos, charts, and illustrations can accomplish
this objective.
4. Keep the number of images you present manageable. Too many images will tire your
audience (so will too much text). Eight to ten images should be the maximum number for
most presentations.
5. Combine variety with coherence. If you use several images, vary the design to make them
interesting, but keep them aesthetically consistent.
6. Use large lettering. Use large text font sizes with minimal use of serifs so the audience can
read the text easily. In addition, do not flood your presentation with text.

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 Reflective Essay
In 200 words, reflect on your use of social media. In what ways have you made good
use of social media? In what ways have you harmed yourself or others through social
media?

Write your synthesis here!

PREPARE TO REACT AND ACT

1. Read the article “The Flight from Conversation” written by Sherry Turkle and published in
The New York Times on April 21, 2012.
Here’s the link for it: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-
from-conversation.html

2. As you read, ask yourselves the following guide questions (answers need not be written
down):
a. How do you feel about what was written? Do you agree or disagree with the points
raised?
b. Can you identify with any of the situations presented in the article? Do you have
any experience related to any of the examples given?
c. Does the article prompt you to do something, or change any previous belief you
might have? Or does it reinforce/ support your existing stand on the topic?
3. Prepare a Reaction Paper, with the following basic parts:
a. Introduction
i. State the title and author of the article you read.
ii. Write a two-sentence summary of the article (what it is about).
iii. State your thesis, which is a sentence that highlights your main point or argument.
b. Body
i. Provide statements or details that would support your thesis. Three to four
paragraphs will suffice.
ii. Each paragraph is expected to have a topic sentence, supporting detail, direct
quote/ line lifted from the article, and explanation.
iii. You may use sentence prompts, such as
1. I think that…
2. In my opinion…
3. It is my firm belief that…
4. It seems that…
5. I truly feel that…
iv. Organize the paragraphs and provide smooth transitions using proper devices (In
addition, Furthermore, Moreover, However, etc.)
c. Conclusion
i. Restate your thesis sentence, or summarize your main point/ argument.
ii. You may end with a call to action, a major comment, or a prediction, as long
as no new information or reaction is presented.

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication
 4. Proofread your work to ensure that:
5.
a. there are no glaring grammatical or typographical errors that might affect your
message.
b. all sources have been properly cited.
c. the first-person perspective is used, since you are writing your personal reaction.
d. your paper is not simply a summary of the article.

Reminders:

1. Limit the reaction paper to 2 – 3 pages (short bond paper).

2. Use Times New Roman, font size 12, with 1.5 spacing and 1” margin on all sides.
3. Your paper will be scored using the DISCO rubric:

Rate this module using the scale 1-10. 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest score.

How helpful is this in your everyday life?

Rating: _____________

Why?

BOOK
1. Madrunion, M., & Martin, I. (2018). Purposive communication using English in multilingual. Quezon
City: C & E Publishing, Inc.
2. Caroy, A., Dela Cruz, A., Dizon, E., Jose, M., & Palangyos, A. et al. (2018). Purposive
communication. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

INTERNET-BASED

3. How Has Social Media Affected Communication-Facts that Surprise! (n.d.) Retrieved October
7, 2020, https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/how-social-media-affected-communication/
4. Sapungan, R., Tejada, M., Valdez, M. (n.d.) Purposive Communication. Retrieved August 8,
2022 from https://pt.scribd.com/document/502049073/GEd-106-Purposive-Communication

Lovely Joy Apalla, LPT

Purposive Communication