Psychological Predictors of Internet Social Communication
Sarah A. Birnie and Peter Horvath Acadia University, Canada
This study was focused on the relationship of traditional social behavior to social communication via the Internet in a completely wired campus where every professor uses computers in classroom teaching, each residence is wired to the Internet, and every student is issued a laptop computer. The goal of the study was to see the differences in social interactions through internet communication versus verbal interaction, thus seeing if the two mediums were different in outcome. For those people who are more shy, this study targets them to evaluate the chances that they become less shy when social interaction is not a part of the matrix.
I found this study to be interesting in the arguments that were presented. A handful of the arguments were as follows: Do people interact more with friends and family via online resources, or verbal interaction? Does the internet supplement traditional means of social behavior? Is speaking the same as writing, in the context of social interaction? Has online communication broken the traditional assumptions given by personal interaction?
After reading the article, I found asking myself questions and what the definitions I would give them were. I asked myself, “What do I define as a friend?” “How active am I in my family?” “Do I value online communication versus traditional means of communication relative to my own established methods?”
The first question of study, the interaction of friends and family with online methods or verbal methods, is answered by the definition I would give for a friend. I do not think that anyone can have too many friends, but at what length do I consider a person a friend? I think that a true friend is someone who would do exactly what I would do for them. I want to know that I can rely on my friends in a time of need, just as they would of me. The level of support does not warrant exhausting forms of wealth or time, but a two way street of acts that people who care about each other do for each other must apply. I know that my friends will watch my house if I need them to and I know that my friends will be there if something horrible happens to myself or other family. I know that in times of joy and happiness, my friends will be there to bare witness and share in these times. All of these acts I would do for a friend as well. If one wishes to be truly wealthy in life, the measurement of worth is found in what one person calls a friend. The stock invested in those we choose to surround ourselves with is shown by the return when the time comes for need.
I do not interact with friends online as much as the study would indicate for the target study group in the experiment. I chose to have a higher level of standards for my definition of friend. This does not mean that other people’s friends are not true friends, but for what I call friend is contingent solely on my own terms. Family interaction is also along the same lines of friends in my mind. Blood runs thicker than water, but in my own thoughts, my friends are an extension of my family. I have family by blood that will never come close to the friends that I have. For this argument, I interact with those whom interact with me. If family does not involve themselves with my life and I do not involve myself in their lives, than we are at a wash for interaction. Perhaps I have a warped sense of reality.
When the study is asking if the internet supplements traditional social behavior, there is a mixed feeling when I approach my answer. I do not think that it supplements the entire traditional social behavior because no matter what a person can do hiding behind a computer, there is still going to be a need to build confidence in the world we are surrounded in. Unless we manage to completely hide in our homes, we will still have a need to have traditional social interactions. For the purpose of this study, I can be reasonably confident that the internet supplements traditional social behavior. I caveat this statement that it is for the purpose of this study that I agree with the argument.
In regards to the question of speaking being the same as writing, in the context of social interaction, I think it does in the area of when one was brought up in regards to time. Grandparents are probably less likely to send an email as opposed to writing a letter, Parents are more likely to call as opposed to write a letter, and the current generations, (with fuzzy lines of intersection) will most likely send an email versus a lengthy conversation. A “norm” is contingent once again on the time that something can be defined as normal. Visiting and writing were perfectly normal when these were the modes of communication readily available for the time eras in which these lines of communication were present. Once the phone began to replace a large amount of letter writing, this was more normal than writing lengthy letters. The progressions of less timely methods of communication have been exponentially increased with the digital age.
Has online communication broken the traditional assumptions given by personal interaction? I believe that in large, it has. While I would prefer to write a letter or call someone on the phone, this does not lessen the social interaction that my future children will have with friends. Grammar, diction, and other literary skills are still fostered by manners of speech and books. The means in which one speaks to another has no less impact as if it were done ten, fifty, or even a hundred years ago. I would like to see more grammar in interactions, but this is a personal wish. What is given in a transfer of information is valued at what level the transaction was given, as well as to the audience received.
I would recommend anyone to peruse this article. It raises a decent amount of questions within a person’s thoughts. I think that anyone would be surprised to discover what one comes up with for their own definitions on communication and the level of social interaction we chose to endeavor upon.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol7/issue4/horvath.html
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