Knapp's Relational Model

    In 1978, Mark Knapp developed a model that could be used to explain how relationships are formed, how they become stronger, how they can deteriorate, and how they could eventually end (Golchha). This model is known as Knapp's Relational Model. Knapp breaks down relationships into different stages to describe the growth and decline of a relationship between two people. This article by Karishma Golchha goes more into detail about Knapp's Relational Model and all of its various stages.

This rendition of Knapp's Relational Model, along with many others, depicts the model as a staircase, where each stage of a relationship can be thought of as a step, either towards a stronger or a weaker relationship. Just like real stairs, it goes both ways. This image is from Maya Greene on YouTube. She claims it comes from a communication text she used to use.

    For this post, I am going to focus on one of the stages that falls into the "coming apart" category of a relationship, and how it relates to a lifelong friendship I have had with one of my cousins. My cousin and I had always been close as children. We lived very close to each other, so we would spend time with each other often. Eventually, in high school, he was forced to move to a different state. We were no longer able to see each other, and, for a while, we did not communicate at all. After a year or so, he and I reconnected online through Discord. After this, we became close again and would play video games together quite often. We were in the relational maintenance phase, but now that we have matured, I feel that we have fallen to the differentiating stage. In other words, we do not share many of the same interests anymore, and our relationship has diminished as a result. We do not like to play the same games, nor do I have time to play games much due to school and work. As a result, we went from hanging out online once a week to once a month. With online communication as our only option, I feel this form of spending time together has weakened our friendship. 

Different interests can cause separation among individuals.

    Despite this, I am hopeful that we can build our friendship back up. He recently moved back and is living near me again. He does not have a job or any money right now, but once he gets back on his feet, he and I will be able to spend time together in person. This should allow us to circumvent our different interests that were limiting us when we could only communicate online.

Oversharing Online

    Hello everyone! This week, I will be discussing the impact social media and social networking has on us and our daily lives. I personally do not interact with social media very much. I use Twitter (I prefer to call it Twitter rather than X) daily for the sake of keeping up to date on my interests, such as the games I play, as well as what is generally going on in the world (which is not great right now). I do not actually interact with others on Twitter. I never post, my account is private, and none of my friends are on there, so I purely use it to stay informed. I instead use Discord to stay in touch with my friends, which I would consider more of a social networking site rather than a traditional social media site. Since my personal interaction with social media is minimal, much of what I discuss will be based on what I observe of others that use social media more frequently. 

    Every uniquely different social media platform will have its pros and cons depending on what you hope to accomplish on the platform, as they are all designed with specific features that distinguish them from other sites. For example, Instagram is one of the most popular sites for sharing images and videos. While it might a be great place to see your friend's vacation pictures, it is not the greatest site for having in depth discussions. For that, you might go to a site like Reddit instead, where you can find discussion posts sorted into different communities that have active community members who will reply to the discussion. If you are planning a vacation, Instagram would have the best photos of the vacation spot, while Reddit would have people discussing their experiences there, while Twitter often has a mix of both, not leaning too far in either direction. Twitter provides a platform where you can quickly keep up to date with people and topics you care about, but it may not always provide the most reliable information.

    Next, I want to compare social media sites that enable creativity as their primary function versus sites that are more focused on presenting information. For example, TikTok, a site made for posting videos that pretty much everyone is familiar with by now, has exploded in popularity over the last half a decade or so. Most people associate TikTok as a was to express themselves creatively, as well as a way to watch silly videos as a form of leisure. In contrast, most of what I see on Twitter these days is political discourse and tragedies taking place around the world. Based on the content of each platform, it would be fair to assume that sites like TikTok are becoming more popular because they have a more positive effect on our mental health, while sites like Twitter have a more negative impact. 

This graphic by David Carr from https://www.similarweb.com/blog/insights/social-media-news/twitter-threads/ shows creative social media sites like TikTok and Pinterest surging in popularity, while more informative social media sites are dropping in popularity.

    Lastly, I would like to discuss Facebook. While I have never personally used Facebook, almost everyone in my family has experience with the platform, so I have a decent idea of how it affects them. I recall a while back that my grandma deleted her Facebook because seeing everyone posting themselves having fun without her made her feel left out. Eventually, she redownloaded Facebook because she missed interacting with those she loved on there. Facebook impacted her positively by connecting her with her family, but it also made her depressed because she would compare her own life to others, which would not have happened if everyone's lives were not public on Facebook. I also briefly interviewed my mother on how Facebook has affected her. She said it made her happier when she could see her friends and family meeting their goals and having positive experiences, but also that it irritated her when she was forced to see political opinions that she disagrees with. In short, Facebook allows us to see content we would not otherwise be exposed to, which can be good or bad depending on the nature of the content. Without anyway to filter the content, there will always be things we are exposed to that can be positive or negative.

About Me

Hello everyone! My name is Troy Wilson. All my life, I have lived in Vacaville, California. It is directly in between San Francisco and Sacramento, so I like to call it the nowhere in the middle of somewhere. I visit Oregon often since I have family that live there. I hope to live there myself one day, as I love the natural beauty of the state. I would like to live near the coast, as I enjoy cooler weather (which is why I want to leave California).

I am currently working on my BS in environmental science (hence the name of the blog). I have always enjoyed nature and its serenity, so I decided to make it my career! I especially enjoy forests and love to explore them any chance I get. My favorite trees are redwoods and sequoias, as I find their massive size mesmerizing. I also enjoy beaches.

A picture I took of Yosemite Valley

My hobbies include hiking, playing video games, and messing with technology in general. I just built a desktop computer last month which I am now using to make this blog. I originally considered majoring in computer science, but I decided that I would rather work in the beauty of nature instead of at a desk. I have enjoyed hiking since I took a field trip to a forest near Santa Cruz in the sixth grade. I have also been playing video games since the original PlayStation.

A picture I took of the Horsetail Falls in northern Oregon