Communication Currents

Volume 2, Issue 1

Cross Current: Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but

The adage absence makes the heart grow fonder may hold true. Many people in long-distance relationships say that the being away from their partner makes the time they are together special; every day they are together is like Valentines Day. The absence, they say, helps them to appreciate their partner more and makes the relationship stronger. In fact, people in long-distance relationships tend to maintain their relationships longer, be less likely to break up, and be more in love and satisfied than people in geographically close relationships. Long-distance partners think fond thoughts and some even report they enjoy the anticipation of the reunion and the excitement of being together. People in long-distance relationships tend to be more idealized and romanticized.

On the Social Implications of Invisibility: The iMac G5 and the Effacement of the Technological Object

Many people use a Macintosh computer and choose to do so because of their hip, popular designs. The look of Apples competitively priced desktop, the iMac G5, exemplifies the companys attempts to beautify digital technology with a sleek shape that inserts the computer into the monitor. Yet the tools attractive appearance also disguises socially problematic aspects of the production and disposal of new media devices.

Fast Fact:

Conflict and Communication: The Good Will Hunting Technique

In the self-help section of bookstores, there is abundant advice for communication in everyday situationswith bosses, parents, children, lovers and even animals. Worthwhile advice is to be found, but there also exists a prominent strain of advice that offers solutions that actually worsen the problem.

How Employees Fight Back Against Workplace Bullying

Adult bullying at work is a shocking, terrifying, and at times shattering experience. Whats more, bullying appears to be quite common, as one in ten U.S. workers report feeling bullied at work, and one in four report working in extremely hostile environments.

Mediated Interactivity: Tools for Democracy or Tools for Control?

When a global media giant uses its bullhorn to proclaim that the Internet has allowed the public to seize control from the media giants, its time for a closer examination of the marketing of mediated interactivity.