What is the true purpose of communication?

In my new communication technologies lecture, we had a very interesting discussion about the true substance of communication: is it about spreading the truth or creating fabrication? There are countless examples in which communication is used to spread lies--cyberbullying, propaganda, advertisements, etc. We assumed that all of these new communication tools such as Facebook, text messaging, or even online dating sites encourage us to fabricate the truth. It could be something as innocent as texting a friend that you're "on your way" when you really haven't left yet, or it could be something serious like posing as someone else on Facebook. Without that face-to-face interaction it becomes much easier to lie. 

However, Jeff Hancock, a deception analyst, studies how we interact by email, text message and social media blips, seeking to understand how technology mediates communication. He has a completely different view on the subject. He has found that people are not any more likely to be truthful in person than they are on the Internet. In fact, he found that people generally tend to be very truthful online. One way he explored this was by having a person’s close friends describe that person’s personality, and then having someone who doesn’t know the person judge their personality solely by their Facebook page, and the descriptions tended to match up.

Jeff went on to talk about how thousands of years ago, when humans would speak it obviously was never recorded like it is today. Today we record our every movement on Twitter and can look back on our lives through pictures on Facebook. However, humans thousands of years ago spoke in a way that there is no record, and so we have evolved to speak this way. He also pointed out that humans only have about 54% accuracy when trying to detect deception face-to-face. Therefore, a lot of lying goes on in person, we just don’t notice it.

Speaking of new technologies...

People in my generation adapt to new technology very quickly. We grew up with technology. When I first started my internship, my boss asked if I had ever used Constant Contact before, which allows you to create email newsletters and send them to the people in your contacts, and then it analyzes how many people have opened the email and clicked on the links. I had never used it before or even heard of it. They told me to take an hour to just mess around with it and learn how to use it. It took me all of five minutes to figure it out, it's just how our minds work now.

I've been using Facebook for about 8 years, and Facebook and my phone are definitely the devices I use most to communicate with my friends and family. I was still using MySpace when I first heard of Facebook and was very skeptical about it. However, it was very simple to use and was becoming extremely popular. The major downside, of course, is how things like Facebook and Google basically collect information about your life. I just try not to think about it--it's inevitable, they already know everything about me and I can't do anything about it. 

Jeff Hancock-The Future of Lying 2009, video, Ted Talks, 12 November, viewed August 2, 2013, <http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hancock_3_types_of_digital_lies.html>