Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: I mediated communication such as e-mail or Usenet newsgroups allows participants to communicate with others one-at-a-time, but not simultaneously (Morris & Ogan, 1996).E-mail and instant messaging are the most popular Internet activities (Cummings, Butler, & Kraut, 2002).E-mail has become an essential and convenient tool for communicating with friends and family.MOOs and MUDs have been a common playground for meeting new people and talking to others who have similar interests.Recent evidence shows that communicating interpersonally is one of the most important reasons people use CMC (University of California, 2003).People have basic interpersonal needs to belong, to be part of a group, to have relationships with others, and to be loved by others (Baumeister & Leary, 1995).Naturally, people communicate to fulfill their interpersonal needs for inclusion, affection, and control (Schutz, 1966).With the increasing use of CMC for interpersonal communication, CMC has been a valuable tool for many people to form, maintain, and develop relationships (McKenna & Bargh, 1999;Parks & Floyd, 1996;Parks & Roberts, 1998;Utz, 2000;Walther, 1992Walther, , 1994Walther, , 1996)).Anonymity in synchronous and asynchronous CMC may offer opportunities for people, specifically for those who suffer from a social deficit, to disclose information about themselves, to initiate conversation, and to form close relationships in ways that may not be achieved in face-to-face interactions.In the past decade, researchers mainly looked at how people used CMC, in general, but few focused on how and why certain people used CMC differently from others.Individual differences such as loneliness and unwillingness to communicate should influence how CMC is used to communicate and build relationships.In this study,
Author: Vikanda Pornsakulvanich
Institution: Kent State University
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2598923756