Chapter 2 - Seeing Sociology In Everyday Life

In the article on page 45 of Chapter 2, New Symbols in the World of Instant Messaging is discussed. Here are my answers to the questions at the end of the article.





1. What does the fact the we create new symbols all the time suggest about culture?





The ever increasing amount of new symbols to represent ideas, believes and concepts in our lives come from the changes that occur as new technology, greater communication amungst people around the world and new ideals in politics, morality and spiritualality occur. The invention of the automobile lead to new symbols in the form of signs to communicate rules of the road which have in turn been adapted (the no crossing symbol of a red circle with a diaganal slash through it for example) to a variety of concepts both the communication of ideas in health (no smoking), politics (no to a legilative bill), and morality (no to abortion) for example. The simple creation of the "smiley face" for a radio station's promotion has benn blown up into a variety of symbols to express all sorts of emotions and concepts that are recognized around the world.





2. In terms of age, what catagory of people are most likely to use this type of communication? Why?





People born after the rise of personal computer, the cell phone, and the invention of email. It was during this time (actually some years before with the wider availablity of long distance telephone calling) that the art of personal letter writing began to diappear. The use of abbreviations came about because of the space restrictions of instant messaging.





3. What other kinds of synbols can you think of that are new to your generation?




I can't think of any at this time.