Culture Shock Is Only a Click Away

by Colin Walker

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Colin Walker is a graduate assistant at Central Michigan University and a former classmate of ours at Marist College. His independent study, The Effect of Social Media on Intracultural Shock, is part of what Don't Get Lazy is all about. Please give the article a read and leave some feedback for Colin.

         Two years ago, I received a tremendous offer to become a graduate teaching assistant at Central Michigan University. Six months later I moved from Syracuse, New York to Mount Pleasant, Michigan. I thought I would be able to adjust without any problems, but I did not take into account the cultural differences between the two places. I failed to do enough research about the area prior to moving, resulting in a lack of understanding about it. I felt I had made a mistake, but realized it was a learning experience as well. This event inspired an ongoing study into what this culture shock is and how to potentially overcome it.

            Everyday people interact with one another, but what occurs when they are from different groups?  Groups are a social identity for individuals to associate with one another, and they create multiple sectors within a culture. Some of these sectors cross over with one another when an individual associates with multiple groups.

            “A group is perfectly stable only when no new information enters the group and everyone in the group knows everything that anyone else in the group knows” (Carley, p. 332, 1991). This requires a large amount of communication involving different media channels. The media can create confusion by introducing a high volume of information, whether true or false, to groups at a high rate. This can potentially besmirch  a group’s identity. Groups take pride in their distinctiveness from one another and, as a result, an in-group bias is created. People may not believe their groups have a bias. But when you are trying to get together with friends, are there certain ones you call first? Are there particular events you may not tell specific people about? It is something we all do, but it’s motivated by psychological and social factors.

           Most people strive to learn more about the world, which creates numerous views in regards to it. This is a common contributing factor to the creation of groups. It doesn’t mean you necessarily believe the same exact thing, but you can see where someone is coming from in his or her belief. What happens when you don’t understand people’s views in an area, or a fact about the area itself? You can struggle to understand what’s going on in any new area, regardless of its distance from your home.

            When this occurs it is called intracultural shock, a new term coined from the independent study that I am currently conducting. This term represents the anxiety created by uncertainty and striving for resources. Transplants, contrary to the natives of an area, experience these feelings on an everyday basis in American culture because they want a sense of stability in their lives. Stability can be associated with the feeling of happiness for many individuals. There is a way to lessen this sense of anxiety, though and it is by acquiring information. This can help an individual respect the people and values of an area. Wouldn’t it be nice to travel somewhere and not have to hear, "you’re not from around here are you?"

            One way of achieving this is by using social media, which allows for individuals to connect with others in numerous areas. It is typically only a click away with the multitude of Wi-Fi hot spots, 3G and 4G-network coverage, and availability of computer devices to use. For instance, Twitter doesn’t require a data plan anymore because a simple text messaging service can be used to update statuses and read other people’s information. Technological innovations have led to convenience in regards to transmitting messages to one another.

            This does not necessarily mean that communication has improved, though. The use of this non face-to-face method doesn’t allow for the transmission of meaning. Nonverbal cues, among other communication factors, are not associated with this method and can result in an altered message. This can produce unintended messages, which can be misinterpreted. It is a downfall of social media, but that is why it should only be one form of connecting with people.

            When someone is going to a new area, social media can be a convenient way of acquiring information about that area to lessen their anxiety in regards to it. Would you agree with that statement? Have Facebook and Twitter helped people going to new areas to help lessen the anxiety they experience? Recent interviews, filmed for a documentary, have shown that social media can help lessen the anxiety but cannot be the sole method of acquiring information. A survey will be conducted in the near future to obtain more information about the matter.

            Most likely, you are reading this blog because you  want to acquire information. It is another form of social media, and I wonder if channels such as blogging have helped you overcome anxiety in a new area because you learned something from  them.

            Some people may think a person is just complaining on Facebook or Twitter when they post a negative feeling about a new place they are in. The person may fail to realize that is their lack of understanding causing this. Maybe people need to change the way they use social media because it could rectify the culture shock a person may go through. Powerful technology is available at our fingertips, but we must respect it and learn how to use it to better our fellow users and ourselves.

            Any comments about this would be greatly appreciated. This is part of a larger research study being conducted and its goal is to help shed light on the reality of intracultural shock and looking for ways to overcome it. Thank you.

Culture Shock is Only a Click Away by Colin Walker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License