#GROUP DISCUSSION 2

    1)      How has CMC transform the dynamics of interaction?

- Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) makes a big change to the pattern of communication among people. As suggested by its name, CMC makes people interact via technology rather than just communicating face to face as done by people from previous decades when computers are still not vastly used. People in this modern era interact by various different means of communication using computers. For example, they use instant messaging, emails, bulletin boards, video conference and social networking sites. In fact, those means of communication are more widely used if compared to face to face interaction because people are getting comfortable using those methods of conversing.

    2)      How has this transformation shape society?

- There are pros and cons in everything we do. Therefore, there will also be the positive and negative effects of using the CMC, especially towards the society.

Ø  We tend to know everyone, virtually.

In the virtual world as in the sites on the internet, we did not really see the person. Therefore, we tend to be friends with everyone especially in the social networking sites even though we did not know them. This might be because it is so easy to be bonded with people on the internet. For example, in Facebook, what we have to do to enter someone’s life is to just simply click the ‘add’ button and once he/she approve the request, we are said to be his/her friend, as simple as that. However, if we stumbled upon them in real life, we did not really talk to them.

Ø  People are becoming socially awkward

When most interaction is done via the internet, the soft skills of the users of the computers are getting tarnished. As a result, we don’t know how to mingle with people anymore, we don’t know how to develop better social relationships with others, we don’t have the skills in using languages and we don’t even know how to be flexible and how to adapt when dealing with various kinds of people. Therefore, people are becoming socially awkward and that reduces our quality as a human being.

    3)      Is this mode of communication in sync with Islam?

- Yes.  Through CMC we can strengthen the relationship among Muslims and Islam encourages us to be close to each other.

Plus, the fact that we can actually have virtual friends from different religion also is an advantage for us as we can use the medium to spread da’wah. We should bear in mind that thehukm for spreading da’wah for us as a Muslim is FardAin, which means each and every one of us should preach others, depending on our capabilities.