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The End of Chapter 1

The Metaphor

“Prioritize doing the right things at the right time and you will succeed in life,” that is my belief. Trying to do everything at once will kill you. But sidetracking yourself with the endless distractions around you will make you lose focus.

There’s college, there’s social media, games, and other distractions. But there’s also home, family. When all things go upside down, you can always come back at home, where (probably) most of us feel safe and relaxed. And after recollecting ourselves, then we can start prioritizing things to be able to get back on track.  

The class was able to test my ability to prioritize things. Especially with group works. Yes, communication between teammates is very important. But with the other subjects and their own projects in the way, and without knowing which one to do first, effective communication is almost impossible and the group will most likely cram things up when it’s already too late. 

I have learned that doing what we want is fun. But doing what we want after doing what we must will give us peace of mind, time for ourselves, and true joy.

Top 3 Learning Experiences

The Phenomenological Tradition was one of the most difficult concepts I have ever encountered in my 18 years of existence. On a shallow perspective, it would present itself as easy to analyze and explain. But as I was going in deeper into research, I realized I’m standing at the center of “Phenomenology’s Library of Ideas.” I was trapped in a never ending river of theories and concepts that I found myself struggling to find the answer and ultimately drowning. I needed to take a break and catch my breath. But I did it as fast as I could because I was running out of time. In the end, I found the simplest, most comprehensible answer in Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception. That Phenomenology is the body’s process of assigning meaning to things based on what it perceives and/or experiences. And struggling so much and in the end finding the answer is one of the most satisfying things when learning.

The Critical Tradition is the polar opposite of the Phenomenological Tradition. It analyzes things, not through perception or experience, but through idealistic views. It gave me a hard time explaining the differences between the two. But I’m kind of a curious person, and I don’t like not finding answers to certain things. That is why after our class in Comm 2, I tried differentiating the two traditions and I found out that the Phenomenological Tradition focuses more on a person’s lived experience and his/her own interpretation of it, while the Critical tradition on the the other hand focuses on society and its elements.

In my Comm 2 journey, I learned that fact-finding is a very important process in learning. So important that without doing it, it is impossible to present valuable and connected information which is worth everyone’s time. And I also believe that fact-finding in a clinical level is also very useful in research, Without it, I wouldn’t have explained the Phenomenological Tradition as well as I did. And being a Communication student, I believe that it is imperative to give much effort in fact-finding because it will surely take us a long way.

“Buti ka nga Communication lang eh...”

“...ako nga engineering...” “...may calculus ba kayo?!...” “...ako nga may gagawin pa kaming case study sa...” “...ako nga may mga code pang aasikasuhin...” “...buti nga kayo walang math eh...” “...andali nga lang ng course mo eh...”

Every time I talk to my high school friends about my course, my projects, our requirements, they tell me those quotes. They think my course is just a piece of cake. They think I study how humans talk. They think I only do drama productions. They think I’m training how to become a TV presenter. They think I only edit videos. They think I have a chill course. At first, I thought so too. But Comm 2 proved otherwise.

Communication is more than just social media. It’s more than just talking to people, working on drama productions, and the likes. It’s about learning concepts and communication theories. Digging deeper into the simplest details of speech patterns. Trying to identify the meaning behind dialogues and making sense of the society’s structures and how it works. 

I was never sure what career path to follow. In the first place, I chose AB Communication because I knew that after I graduate I’ll have plenty of career paths to choose from. With that revelation, Comm 2 has made me even more confused as to what career I want to pursue. But I believe that the time I will spend in confusion will help me choose the best path for myself. The path that will make my job a hobby. The path that I will hopefully enjoy doing for the rest of my life. The path that is destined for me. And even though it is belittled by many, I believe that communication will guide me to the right destination.

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How do you perceive?

Our group had to make a presentation about the Phenomenological tradition, specifically, Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception. It focuses on the first hand experience of a person and its relation to one's perception of things in the world.

Language is the Vehicle of Meaning

In phenomenology, the mind perceive’s the world through language. Without language, the world can never be understood. Whether it be verbal or non verbal, language is the most important tool for assigning meanings to things. For example, we know what potato is because of its associate labels: brown, food, mashed potatoes, french fries, etc.

Experience is the Basic Data of Reality

In phenomenology experience is your companion through understanding the world. What you see, touch, taste, smell and hear are your basis when assigning meanings to things.

For example, when you look at a potato, your mind records that experience and remembers the basic structure of a potato so that next time you see it, you know that it is, in fact, a potato.

Although, pure experience has a flaw. For example, some people, when they see a turnip, they mistake it for a potato. Maybe because it has the same rough, brown skin. The point is, experience, in phenomenology, is first hand. What you see is what you get. And that brings us to another main takeaway in our presentation...

Perception Transpires Even Before Reflection

In Phenomenology, what you perceive and understand at the moment of experiencing something is what your mind perceives as true. When you look at turnip and mistake it for a potato, this is what you call “Pure Experience.” When you start reflecting on the turnip’s basic structures, question its identity as a potato, and start to realize that it’s a turnip, that becomes your reflection. And take note, that is Semiotics, NOT Phenomenology.

Phenomenology also applies to changes in meanings. For example, FUN.

You might be one of those who, when they were still kids, defined FUN as playing in inflatable playgrounds. This definition is true in your mind, when you were still a child. But meanings change because, overtime, perception changes due to new experiences.

And now that you’re already grown up, you might be one of those who define FUN as going to clubs or parties with your friends.

SEMIOTICS TRADITION Peirce’s Semiotics Theory

The group who presented the Semiotics tradition was by far the one who explained their theory clearest. And I learned that, in semiotics, they deal with the secondhand experience of things. By secondhand, I mean that they reflect on the thing and its relation to other things through the Triadic Model. And that signs and symbols, most of the times, are derived from the dominant culture.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL TRADITION Convergence and Divergence

What I understood from this theory was: Convergence was the adjustment of speech patterns of individuals to match those of their environment, while Divergence, in a way, is being like an introvert (when people distance themselves from others) where the differences in communication between individuals are highlighted.

Being with my group, I learned that communication is the key to success, and prioritizing things is a talent that most of us don’t have.

Yes, cooperation is important, but without communication, the group will accomplish nothing. In our world today, it is ironically harder to communicate with others even with the various social media applications that are readily available for us.

To be able to prioritize things in a way that results to a harmonious life is a skill that is needed to be learned by all. Requirements are not hard to accomplish. But with all the distractions around us: the internet, games, chat, TV, movies, hangouts, Facebook, twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, etc., we tend to mix up our priorities.

As a future media practitioner, being able to communicate effectively will benefit me in a way in which working with my colleagues easily is not a problem. And being able to prioritize things according to their importance is a skill that I must be able to develop because, I’m sure, it’ll make my life a lot easier, now, and in the future.

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“My mother is your mother too.”

This video moved me, especially the part above (the...uhm...the picture). At first, I thought, “Oh no, I wouldn’t be able to relate to Muslim stuff.” But then, I saw the two disabled kids and I realized, maybe the Muslim theme isn’t that relevant to the video’s message. As the video progressed, it revealed the only family that the verbally disabled kid have, his mother. They’re struggle to go visit his mother was frustrating, at the same time it was heartwarming. I have a cousin, since birth until my second year of high school, I’ve been technically living with him (since we were at the same compound) until I moved out to our own house. But, ever since, we’ve had a very tight relationship. From the moment we wake up to the moment we wake up (yeah...), we almost always look forward to play with each other. Up until now, even when we’re separated, we still have that bond between us. His nanay is my nanay, my mommy is his mommy as well. We share that much with each other, like the kids in the video. Maybe that’s why I was moved by the video.

The signifier is a representation that stands in place of the signified. While the signified is the concept created in the mind. For example, the word COW is the signifier for the signified, which is the photo of a cow. In connection to the video, one signifier-signified relationship I identified was the word Mother that was mentioned by the verbally challenged kid. He told the blind kid that he misses his mother, which prompts the viewers (including me) to create a visual representation (which is the initial signified) of the kid’s mother, alive and well. It sparks our curiosity on why the kids told the other kids that they both don’t have any relatives when the verbally challenged kid has a mother. At the end of the video, it was revealed to us that the final signified was his deceased mother.

For me, semiotics makes us understand the relationship of the representation of the object to the actual object itself; and that the signified that we form in our mind isn’t always what the signifier signifies. As a future media practitioner, I may be able to use semiotics to create images in the minds of my “audience” to be able to explain more clearly what I am trying to express. And it could also help me become more cautious on how I will describe a certain signifier when pertaining to a specific signified.

This is the link to the video I watched:

https://youtu.be/G0HwiPHyenI

Thanks for reading!

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Dat Moment #1

Dat moment when you get freaking angry at your ISP. Just. . . GOD!

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Pizzaaaaaaaa *badump~tss* #pizza #pizza #pizza #pizza