The Importance Of A Contact Zone

Everyone in the world is unique, and this is what makes us who we are today. This is considered to be a “contact zone”. Before I begin, it is crucial to establish some background information on what is meant by a community and a contact zone. A community is a group of people that share a common characteristic or goal. For instance, in high school, I was part of an athletic program, called APGA, which was considered to be a community. As for a contact zone, Mary Louise Pratt defines it as, “The social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other” (514). By this she means that a contact zone is where conflicting ideas are being issued. For example, an argument about which social media site you prefer to use on a daily basis

When using a social media network such a Facebook, it is easier for you to express your thoughts, ideas, and opinions because you are not a face, but simply a user name to them. For example, one day I was arguing with my sister about who will do the dishes through Facebook messenger because I happened to not have been home all day. I do not believe that I would argue in the same way with my sister because our parents are very strict about fighting in our home. Although we are a community in our household and we’ve built strong connections, we’ve learned to like similar or exact things. Even through family, we can create contact zones because we all have

All social media sites provide many advertisements. On Facebook, you are being advertised 24/7. You are always the target audience that different companies try to attract with different advertisements. They can be annoying at times, but now that I think of it, it worked because it got my attention. Companies use it to try to get consumers to remember at least 5 seconds of the advertisement or the product. A good example of this would be when you are playing a game on Facebook because advertisements consistently pop up. There are times where advertisements catch your attention and you decide to read more about them. This then leads to you sharing this post with your friends on Facebook, which attracts their attention. I can relate this to Mary Louise Pratt, Arts of the contact zone, when she states, “He learned the meaning of expertise, of knowing about something well enough that you can start a conversation with a stranger and feel sure of holding your own” (512). This can be related to Facebook because once you find an advertisement that you can relate to or want to learn more about than you begin to have more knowledge about the topic. This therefore causes you to be more likely to spend money on an item you may not have needed. Thus, social media sites attract consumers using advertisements that constantly come