Crawford writes that “listening has not been given sufficient consideration as a significant practice of intimacy, connection, obligation and participation online; instead, it has often been considered as contributing little value to online communities, if not acting as an active drain on their growth”. This, in my experience as a social-media user, is very true. Whenever I see a particularly controversial tweet or post and feel compelled to take a glance at the comments, I am always surprised by what I see. People will comment their own various points of views on the matter suggested in the most personally attacking and demeaning way possible. Sometimes, these comments don’t even pertain to what the original post was about, almost as if the attackers just want to start a fight behind their screen of choice for no apparent reason other than kicks and giggles.
As a “budding sound student”, I wonder about the effects of debate through social media. When we engage others through our screens, we are effectively taking the voice, or sound altogether, completely out of the equation. My mother always warned me not to have serious conversations or send risky texts over the phone because of just how warped the recipients perception of the said message can become so quickly. Taking the voice out of a discussion makes it easier for the engaged to ignore the engager and instead focus solely on and push their own agenda no matter how unrelated it may seem to the original opinion.
Crawford’s views definitely hold up in 2018, maybe even more so as it has become alarming easier to hide behind a screen and ignore the other end as technology has only improved in the last nine years. Social media users need to re-evaluate how they perceive what they see and work on their listening skills. An absence of a voice has become the new voice, and if people of this new age need to adapt or communication as we know it will crumble.
