Internet Relationships

Since lately I have wondered about how the internet impacts people, I have been finding the most interesting articles. I found this one article called Personal Relationships: On and off the Internet by Jeffrey Boase and Barry Wellma. It talks about how having the internet can have advantages and disadvantages with being able to talk to people on-line instead of face to face.

For instance:
(1) As internet communication is largely distance-independent in use and cost, it may
support more interactions with a greater number of spatially dispersed network members.

(2) The asynchronous nature of the internet, in which senders and receivers of messages
do not have to be online simultaneously, also supports interactions at great distances and
among people with different temporal rhythms.

(3) The rapidity of internet interactions as compared to intermittent face-to-face meetings
and phone calls may foster a high velocity of interpersonal exchange, sometimes ill-
considered.

(4) The reduced social presence of the internet may limit its ability to support emotional,
nuanced and complex interactions.

(5) The text-only nature of almost all internet messages can reduce perceived hierarchies
as gender, social class, ethnicity, age, etc are less visible.

(6) The absence of direct visual or audio feedback in internet exchanges may encourage
more extreme forms of communication, sometimes called flaming. People may input
messages to the screen that they would never say to another person palpably present in
person or on the telephone.

(7) The ability of email to be forwarded to others supports transitive, indirect contact, as
when messages get sent to friends of friends. This aids the exchange of information that
cuts across group boundaries. Such crosscutting ties link and integrate social groups,
increasing societal connectivity.

(8) The ability of internet messages to be sent to many people simultaneously allows
people to remain in contact with multiple social circles.

(9) The internet’s velocity, transitivity and multiple message characteristics indirectly
connect the wired world in six steps or less. Yet, there is significant decoupling in social
networks. Hence, information diffuses rapidly through computer-supported social
networks, but neither universally nor uniformly.


You think this is interesting, this is only the beginning of what they talk about. If you want to read more! CLICK HERE