iExamen 1

Going into the iExamen I did not expect to notice anything special or significant. As I went through the day though, I realized how different my interactions with certain people were compared to others. My interactions during the day varied from my roommates, to other friends, to my professors.

The interaction I had with my roommates was by far the most open and free. I was able to say anything on my mind in the exact way that it came to me. The body language I had with my roommates was very relaxed and comfortable. I never realized before how comfortable I was with them until I did the iExamen. When we were apart from each other we would still keep communicate with each other through text messages. The majority of the conversations we had, both face to face and through text, consisted of inside jokes. I realized that other people would not understand what we were talking about because we speak using a completely different “language”. From spending so much time with each other we have been able to create our own “language” that only we understand completely.

            The way I communicated with other friends, that were not my roommates, was still significantly different. My interaction with these people was still very relaxed, but it was a little less comfortable than I was when I was with my roommates. With these people, who I was not as close with, I did not have any special jokes or language that I would use. Everything was common English. There were some things that I felt I could not say around these people because they would not understand where I was coming from and possibly take it a wrong way. The strange thing with these people is that we may have seen each other earlier in the day, but if we saw each other at a later point, than we wouldn’t say greet each other in any way. This was such a strange occurrence, but in a way it was still normal interaction between others and myself.

            My communication with my Professors was completely different than the two other types of people I interacted with. This was much more formal and I made sure to choose my words very wisely. When I was talking to my teachers it almost felt like I wanted them to think I was smart and belonged in their class. I wanted them to think I was worthy of being at this school. It was definitely something that I was not a hundred percent comfortable doing, but I could see myself becoming more comfortable over time.

            Unplugging from all electronic communication was something I enjoyed doing. It made all my communication during that one hour period much more personal, because I had to go find the person I wanted to talk to and stay with them until I was finished talking or asking them something. It was also relaxing in a way because I wasn’t worrying constantly about where my phone was or checking it every two seconds to see if I had any new messages. I felt like I was much more aware and paid more attention to what everyone around me had to say. My phone serves as such a distraction from my surroundings, it was almost a relief to not have it for an hour.

            After returning to technology-assisted communication I again felt as though I was a little disconnected from everyone around me. My full attention wasn’t being placed on what people were saying and instead I always had some bit of attention turned towards my phone.