Transactional Communication
Brock Higgason
Communications as action and transactional are anywhere from simple recognitions of symbols to deeper understandings of meanings between people. As vague as both definitions seem at first, it’s pretty simple to grasp the fact that we experience these types of communications quite frequently every single day. My ex-girlfriend that I dated throughout the last two years of highschool sent me a Snapchat approximately 2 weeks ago. She, the sender, and I, the receiver, shared a cyber interaction where I saw her familiar flirtatious selfie for a brief couple of seconds. Communication as action occurred when she sent me that selfie. If I hadn’t had the nostalgic feeling of love and happiness, it would have simply been a communication as action. Due to the emotions tied in to both sides of the cell phone (the idea that she knew what she was doing by sending me a flirtatious selfie), the communication level increases to transactional. The book states that something magical, something extra happens in the tracks of transactional communication. Even though the interaction was only cyber (from mobile device to mobile device), the assumption can be made that this simple Snapchat could be recognized as more transactional than action, communication wise. A spark flew so to speak, as sappy as it sounds; of all the Snapchats I send and receive throughout the day, my stomach dropped when I saw her name pull up on my phone. This is an event that happens less often in the communication world, one more easily spotted and memorable. As I stated earlier, the communication level would have been completely different if passionate feelings weren’t felt between the sender and receiver in a prior life. I, the receiver, could have experienced an average communication as action, just like every other Snapchat, average, normal, nothing too exciting. Yet, since a hint of “magic” was present, since my heart skipped a beat when I got the notification on my phone,
Communications as action and transactional are anywhere from simple recognitions of symbols to deeper understandings of meanings between people. As vague as both definitions seem at first, it’s pretty simple to grasp the fact that we experience these types of communications quite frequently every single day. My ex-girlfriend that I dated throughout the last two years of highschool sent me a Snapchat approximately 2 weeks ago. She, the sender, and I, the receiver, shared a cyber interaction where I saw her familiar flirtatious selfie for a brief couple of seconds. Communication as action occurred when she sent me that selfie. If I hadn’t had the nostalgic feeling of love and happiness, it would have simply been a communication as action. Due to the emotions tied in to both sides of the cell phone (the idea that she knew what she was doing by sending me a flirtatious selfie), the communication level increases to transactional. The book states that something magical, something extra happens in the tracks of transactional communication. Even though the interaction was only cyber (from mobile device to mobile device), the assumption can be made that this simple Snapchat could be recognized as more transactional than action, communication wise. A spark flew so to speak, as sappy as it sounds; of all the Snapchats I send and receive throughout the day, my stomach dropped when I saw her name pull up on my phone. This is an event that happens less often in the communication world, one more easily spotted and memorable. As I stated earlier, the communication level would have been completely different if passionate feelings weren’t felt between the sender and receiver in a prior life. I, the receiver, could have experienced an average communication as action, just like every other Snapchat, average, normal, nothing too exciting. Yet, since a hint of “magic” was present, since my heart skipped a beat when I got the notification on my phone,