By Macy Feemster/ reporter
Kaylee Jensen/The Collegian
A NE Campus sociology professor told students Nov. 9 to “get off Facebook and put your face in a book.”
The Human Connections seminar emphasized the importance of interpersonal dialogue in an age of mass media domination.
“People communicating to each other makes the world go round,” Murray Fortner said.
When strangers interact with each other face to face, it’s more impactful than when people just text back and forth.
Fortner said his philosophy was not to talk long but to talk enough so he covers what he needs. He related his philosophy and the way people impact each other by saying commercials are short, impactful bursts, just like small, impactful conversations.
“I am a commercial instead of a movie,” he said. “It is a commercial that moves you to start doing something or to stop doing something.”
“Our generation has peculiar challenges. The technology has seeped in like a virus and started taking over,” he said. “Move away from machine-to-machine conversation about things that do not matter.”
Communication arts department chair Linda Quinn asked students the best way college students can connect with people.
NE student John Richtner offered a way to get involved.
“Everyone overthinks talking to people,” he said. “Just say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ to everyone you meet. It’s that simple.”
Fortner related social media and face-to-face conversations to food. Conversations people have on social media accounts such as Snapchat and Twitter are just snacks. When people actually talk face to face with someone, it’s like having a full course meal, he said.
NE student Devante Charles described scenes he’s seen at work.
“I work at a restaurant, and there are so many tables with a date going on, and they’re just sitting there on their phones, or there will be a family, and they will all be on their phones,” he said. “They don’t understand that they’re with somebody in that moment, for that moment, but they’re not engaging in the moment. They’re on their phones.”
Many people have made it such a priority to constantly be on their phones, they are oblivious to what is happening around them. Some find it hard to put down their phones.
“You have to be on your phone. Even in school, you’re on Blackboard,” NE student Isaac Sigala said. “I try not to get on my phone, but it’s so hard since it’s in my pocket all the time. But we need to interact with people and become more than what is just behind the screen.”
Fortner said technology and social media is affecting the millennial generation.
“It’s up to us to change it,” he said.
