Real Communication An Introduction

Chapter 5  Communication and Culture 125

As such, you must be ready to address cultural differences—not just between
nations but also between regions, states, and cities. Even if you don’t physically
encounter many people from outside your community, you will almost certainly
communicate with new people at some time or another through media.

Mediated Interaction

Clearly, mediated communication is changing the way we experience the world
and broadening the range of people and groups with whom we regularly interact.
In the United States today, some 70 percent of American adults use broadband
(high-speed Internet) at home (Zickuhr & Smith, 2013). In addition, 63 percent
of adult cell phone owners access the Internet via their phones or tablets (Duggan,
2013). We communicate electronically more and more each year, and now
more than one generation of adults worldwide are “digital natives” who have
grown up with these technologies (Joiner et al., 2013; Prensky, 2012). Through
the Internet, we connect not only with far-off family and friends but also with
individuals from around the country—or around the world—when we participate
in online gaming, watch YouTube videos, or comment on others’ blogs.
In addition to the newer media technologies, more traditional media also
enable exposure to people from different cultures. Calls to customer service
centers are answered in other parts of the country or on the other side of the
world. Radio stations bring international music and news right to your car. And
television offers glimpses of cultures we might not be a part of—including British
situation comedies on BBC America, soccer games broadcast from South America,
and foreign films presented on the Independent Film Channel. American TV
programming also has increasingly diverse casts.

Asian

5%

Hispanic
7%

Other

2%

Other

1%

Asian

2%

THEN & NOW

A snapshot of the nation

White*

80%

White*

63%

Black

12%

Black

13%

Hispanic

17%

1980 2012 (projected)

*Non-Hispanic

FIGURE 5.1

U.S. CENSUS DATA

INDICATING INCREASED

DIVERSITY IN THE NATION

Source: U.S. Census Bureau;

numbers have been rounded.

How long have you lived in

your current location? Are

people in your community

treated differently based

on their status as a new or

established member in the

community? How might your

response change based on

your own level of involvement

in the community?

AND YOU?