But What Do You DO With Communication?

On a recent phone interview, my interviewer opened the conversation with, "I REALLY related to some of the things that you wrote in one of your essays - that no one really understands what you're studying." We joked about the many times that people have asked us what we DO with a degree in communication; if we intend to be television broadcasters and whether we'd be covering news, entertainment, sports, or otherwise; or if we're doing this just because we like to talk, are good at talking, and want to keep talking and get paid for it. For those of you who have asked me these questions: It's okay; I owe you an explanation. And to all of my fellow comm majors, comm scholars, comm professionals: Sigh.

Since I'll likely post a lot in the coming months about school (because, well, let's face it, I LOVE school), I should probably tell you what in the world I spend all this time, coffee consumption, and energy on. Before we start, though, I must provide a warning: There are many, diverse directions you can pursue with a degree in communication; I represent one tiny little blip on the spectrum of these possibilities. I, by no means, represent what EVERYONE does or can do with a degree in communication. In the simplest of terms, I study communication in personal relationships. More specifically (yet not really specific at all), I really want to know what's different or the same about how people communicate online v. face-to-face, and how these differing communication contexts impact characteristics of the relationships. In order to answer these questions, I don't just read books about it, but I conduct my own research. Someday, I'll be the person whose book chapter someone else reads to learn the answer to these questions. That's what I do.

Now, in doing what I do (which is such a vague phrase, but just go with it), I've discovered that scholar/researcher Emily is a bit of a contradiction to regular life Emily. Let me give you a few examples:

1) Scholar/researcher Emily studies mediated communication - communicating with others via text messages, Google chat, Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, regular life Emily doesn't even own a smartphone. Hmmm...

2) Scholar/researcher Emily is really interested in the adaptation of nonverbal cues in mediated contexts - all the nonverbal cues that are visible in face-to-face communication (gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc.) that aren't quite possible in a text message. She's really interested in this topic because she imagines that it's far less interesting to read this blog than it would be to experience her talking about all of this in person (can you imagine how much arm-flailing she'd be doing by this point?!). And this is one of the reasons that regular life Emily has put the kibosh on online dating for so long: She's just not the same and other people just aren't the same online. I'm afraid I'd be totally lame online! But these days, regular life Emily is changing her tune, and potentially diving into the online dating scene (more to come, my friends; MORE.TO.COME.).

Besides these scholar/researcher Emily and regular life Emily contradictions, I must bring up another instance in which I have proven myself a hypocrite. Please direct your attention to Exhibit A, a post from last spring in which I spewed my rants and complaints about a whole host of stuff (see: "You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?"). In that post, you may recall that I went on a rant about the nonsensical nature of black stretchy pants and boots as a fashion choice. I must admit that I, Emily Michelle Buehler, at this very moment, am wearing black stretchy pants and boots with an over-sized sweater. Crap. I caved. I may need an intervention.

So here are your take-aways, folks:

• I need to upgrade my phone
• You should look forward to posts about my online dating adventures
• And someone save me from the stretchy pants
• Oh, and now you know what I do (sort of)
• So stop asking me if I want to be on TV. I don't want to be on TV (but I kind of want to be on TV - in a reality show about my ridiculous life, NOT as a broadcaster)

Peace, love, and nonverbal cues (I'll let you guess which ones)--

EMILY :)

P.S. How many times are y'all going to let me talk about myself in the third-person before you get A) really concerned about my sanity, B) really annoyed with me, or C) really confused about who I'm really talking about? Just curious.

P.P.S. Don't EVEN get me started on the difference between communication and communicationS.