Podcast Post

 Week 3 Discussion

For this week's discussion I've been prompted to analyze and discuss an interpersonal relationship through the lens of Knapp's relational model. To be frank I've no interest whatsoever in discussing my interpersonal relationships in any sort of public forum and I think it's almost an inappropriate and irresponsible prompt but here I digress in the interest of moving this class along.

Today, I'll keep things simple here and I will focus on the circumscribing stage.

The relationship I'll analyze is with my sister since she's an influencer and there's some relevance there in dissecting how the impacts of online communication has effected the relationship.

 

 

I adore my older sister, I look up to her in a great deal of ways but her and I could not be more polar opposites in a lot of other ways. Now since this is an age old relationship of siblings there's a constant ebb and flow of where our relationship may stand on the scale of Knapp's relational model. More often than not we are firmly in the bonding stage but a recent monetary dispute led her to temporarily terminating the relationship much to her own dismay. Now, I am a fair and straightforward type of person, I'm responsible and dutiful to a fault and I take satisfaction in caring for others however I have very little tolerance for shenanigans that effect my cash flow. Long story short she'd incurred a debt with me and I collected on it which she did not receive well. If you've ever had to collect a debt from a loved one you will find that there's a rapid spiral down from bonding all the way down the relationship dissolution or 'coming apart' phase.

 

  Once I'd collected of course there were no hard feelings on my end however the lack of response and communication afterward showed that from her perspective the relationship had been terminated. Wherein online communication comes into play here is the fact that we live apart and social media while meaning very little to me means everything to her. She'd had my phone number blocked and blocked me from Instagram for about three months or so. Recently she had a monetary spat with another family member and I intervened getting that person off her back, and buying her dinner. Her thanks for this was to unblock me from Instagram and offer a follow-back. No apology, no closure or explanation as to what had happened over the past few months in the dark. Such is my reward for yet again coming to her aid where I needn't do so. To be honest though that was enough for me, after that we'd continue on with occasional conversation and meme-sharing, however it has not been the same from what I can tell she's kept me in the circumscribing phase. I'm a stockbroker and financial advisor by trade (not necessarily that but these terms relays the information well to a layman) and where my sister would normally come to me for financial advice, she has not since the initial spat. 

I pinpoint the circumscribing phase here since while I'm the younger sibling, 24 vs her 28 the entire family comes to me for financial advice or knowledge so when she goes to mom, granddad, uncle whoever and mentions money it has a funny way of getting back to me. It becomes a roundabout game of telephone but I'm happy to offer my expertise even if direct contact is avoided.

While this was a fun exercise in applying Knapp's model, I think it's quite trash in application toward your own relationships. A useful tool in hindsight maybe but I could not see myself using it in an ongoing relationship for any sort of analysis unless being to in a school assignment. Relationships and human action can't be so well defined by an active participant I think and doing so would likely be more damaging than anything (not to say don't be aware of issues/be looking for room for improvement), but from the outside looking in or from the perspective of hindsight there may be some use here.