Psychological Topics Are Reported in the Mass

¶ … Psychological Topics are Reported in the Mass Media News Article: The news article, 'The Flight from Conversations,' demonstrates how technology and the internet are changing the social aspect of humanity. It explains how online communications are fast replacing face-to-face interactions; and how we are increasingly getting used to the culture of paying attention only to those things that interest us.

Society is fast moving from conversation to connection; but what is rather disturbing is how this shift has led us to shortchange ourselves, stop caring about others, and engrave ourselves in some type of cocoon, where we live our lives as "a tribe of one, loyal to our own party" (p. SR1).

The traditional face-to-face interaction model has been replaced by social media platforms, online chatrooms, and instant messaging services; and with this, the virtue of patience, characteristic of the former has lost meaning -- we are developing a culture of expecting fast answers and fast solution to problems; and in order to effectuate the same, we dumb down or comments and ask each other simpler questions.

With over 300 friends on Facebook, we find no need to build trust; and the result -- a society that not only communicates less with each other, but which also pays less attention to social interactions, is less patient, less trusting, and lacking of the skill of self-reflection.

Journal Article: the journal article 'Is the Internet Changing Social Life?' By Tom Tyler focuses on the less familiar aspect of technology and human interactions - it demonstrates that technology and the internet may not be as damaging to human interactions as we tend to think. The main point is that technology has only created new ways of doing traditional, conventional, and old things, and has not really changed the way people live their lives.

Technology presents people with ample opportunities to structure their interactions more effectively, so that they are able to better meet their intended needs. Rather than portray technology as a replacement for face-to-face interactions, the author demonstrates that people only use it to supplement the latter so that they are in a position to address the interpersonal and personal issues in their lives more effectively.

A socially anxious person, for instance, would use the internet to minimize the anxiety and stress that comes with face-to-face interactions; and then once they have built the art of confidence, they would carry the same over to the traditional setting. In essence, therefore, technology has not replaced face-to-face interactions; rather, it has enhanced and supplemented it.

Differences and Similarities The articles are directed towards very different audiences -- the news article is meant for a general audience given that it makes use of basic language and draws reference from all aspects of the population -- children, managers, parents, and so on. The scientific piece is, however, directed specifically at those professionals in the field of psychology who believe that technology has only had negative effects on the sphere of human interactions.

This is quite evident judging from the author's use of such complex terms as 'social anxiety disorder'. On another note, both articles make use of real-life examples to build strong cases for their respective arguments. The journal article, for instance, uses the example of a person with social anxiety disorder to demonstrate how the internet could be of use in enhancing face-to-face interactions.

The news article, on the other hand, makes use of a real-life example of a computerized workplace, where the boss and all his employees are too busy on their emails to even find time to interact with each other, to show just how much society is getting absorbed in the internet, and how dangerous this trend could be. However, the scientific piece appears to attach more importance to supporting its arguments compared to the media article.

Towards this end, it goes further to make use of scientific evidence in the form of scientific literature (past studies in the field of psychology) to reinforce.