Today's class discussion

During today’s class seminar it was interesting to hear different people’s input concerning online tools like second life and world of war craft. Some people discussed their previous involvement with these arenas, which I couldn’t really relate to since I have really been exposed to second life beside what we have completed in this class. One discussion topic concerned the ability for people to establish communication skills through talking online with people on second life. I do somewhat agree with this statement because it allows people to act differently than they normally would and will come out of their shell more easily. However I do not believe this is equivalent to interacting in person with people. Just like with facebook, aim and text messaging, a lot of what people say over these communication lines may not be what they would ever say in real life. With these forms of communication it allows people to act how they might not normally do or say things they wouldn’t have the nerve to say in person. Due to this, the much of the communication skills developed in things like second life cannot correlate straight into real life. This may be just my experience because I tend to be a timid person and I like to think out what I’m going to say before I blirt things out. Maybe other people have different experiences when it comes to being in groups, but I definitely censor what I think to what I actually say.
One other note about today’sseminar. Although I do feel I had things to contribute to the overall discussion, I wasn’t really able to say what I wanted since people weren’t really paying attention to who may have been raising their hands or waiting to speak. In a situation like this I tend to just listen so I don’t interrupt other people’s train of thought. Although I didn’t vocalize any of my thoughts today I don’t want it to seem as though I was disinterested in the topic or had to opinion, because I definitely do.