The Media Equation

You were expecting math? Well this week’s blog includes a special segment on the media equation (part of the assignment). It’s helpful to any readers who are not group members to briefly explain the media equation. In chapter one of the book conveniently titled The Media Equation, authors Reeves and Nass explain a concept that leaves many with the initial response, “but certainly not me!” Can you tell the difference between human and machine? Well you may think so but the research demonstrates that humans are inherently social beings and therefore have a tendency to apply human social interactions to objects that are, well, not alive. Still skeptical? Well have you ever coddled your computer when it was running a little slowly or begged your car to make it just a little further to the gas station? Perhaps because more than you may realize, media equals real life. Our brains have been trained for so long to believe that what seems real is real that it’s now difficult to differentiate between the two and we don’t even realize we are doing it. Now that I have your attention, I suggest reading the entire first chapter (it’s not that long) for all the excellent examples provided by Reeves and Nass. The article can be found here http://guir.berkeley.edu/courses/cs198/papers/mediaeq.pdf or if you want the whole book, here http://www.amazon.com/Media-Equation-Computers-Television-Lecture/dp/1575860538.
Before you lose complete faith in the mental state of mankind, let’s examine some positive aspects of this vulnerability in the human conscience and the impact it could have on education. First of all it seems that children are even more likely to believe what they see is real and apply human attributes to machines. So knowing the emotional impact a computer program could potentially have on a child, designers should incorporate computer reactions that will elicit the proper emotional response in a child. For example, a child who is using an educational game may receive basic feedback on answers but what if the computer instead played a friendly face that explained the problem and provided warm and positive feedback. Or perhaps in the older grades, the computer provided positive social responses, in effect, modeling appropriate behavior or actions. If kids are not exposed to enough positive social role models, the maybe the computer can act as the positive role model for them. Even more importantly, this could work for students with LD who often exhibit poor social skills. There is a severe shortage of social skills training courses available to parents of children with social skills problems, particularly for adolescents and teens who I believe often need it most. A digital teacher, who is being perceived as a real person in many respects, could provide the necessary training in the privacy of one’s home. It may seem counter-intuitive to teach social skills in an isolated setting but first of all, if the student perceives the computer character/ teacher to be real then they do not feel alone and second, this is a better option if the alternative is not having training at all.
I think the key is to be cautious and to help students gain self awareness of this “issue”. Too often kids get too involved in video and computer games, applying so many human qualities to animated characters that they get fully depressed when something happens to that character in the game. I’ve seen this happen first hand when I once had two students cry while playing the game Petz after their animated dog ran away. We should be cautious also to make sure we don’t allow media to replace real human interaction. No device can substitute the need all people have for true human relationships.
Well I’ve beaten on my poor computer enough for one day. It’s tired and wants to go into hibernation now. I’ll miss it while it’s sleeping but I know it will be ready to greet me later.
Until next week!