With the rapid rate at which technology is growing and changing today, it is hard to predict what will happen in the future. Although, it seems like most of the aspects of the hyperpersonal model will continue to hold. This model has been consistently referred to in our Comm 245 class. The hyperpersonal model utilizes the technological aspect of computer-mediated communication to assist in forming relationships and impression management. One aspect from the hyperpersonal model that will be continually used in the future is selective self-presentation. Individuals will intentionally select positive and desirable cues to present while minimizing physical and behavioral cues. This makes sense because people strive to be liked so we want to present positive features about ourselves rather than negative ones. In addition, the Media Richness Theory will continue to exist since people will seek to find the optimal match between equivocality of a communication task and the richness of the medium. Although there may be some exceptional cases, in general, lean media is good for unequivocal tasks. Media richness theory says that sometimes lean media, where there are reduced cues, is better in certain situations and in other situations, a richer media is better. Depending on what we aim to accomplish, we will use certain media over others.
In the future, I think the use of videoconferencing and audio chatting will become more popular and our technological (CMC) world will be more and more similar to our FtF world. The lack of visual cues and vocal cues that CMC has today will be greatly reduced. With this in mind, I think that CFO is one of the theories that will cease to exist in the future. We have continually come across examples that disprove the cues-filtered-out perspective in class. CFO says that the reduction of social cues produces negative outcomes but we have found examples where people have developed positive, intimate relationships. In addition, I think one of the dimensions of psychological spaces, anonymity, will be reduced with the increase in social networking sites and the possible increase of videoconferencing and audio chatting. In class, we learned that anonymity is the degree to which the space reveals participant identities with sub-dimensions, which include visibility, audibility, and self-expression. In the past 20 years, we have already developed many ways to reduce the anonymity dimension online, such as social networking sites, and it only seems reasonable to assume that it will be continually reduced with more advanced technology that can allow for more social interaction.
I think that as technology continues to rapidly increase, we will have more cases of problematic internet usage. When I looked for articles about internet addictions, I found the following describing the current issues with Internet usage. “More psychologists are plunging into Internet addiction research, fascinated by its emotional, psychological and social implications. In their work, they are finding a subset of people who spend so much time online, especially in sexual encounters, that they report problems in their marriages, families and work.” People’s internet lives are greatly affecting their FtF lives and their relationships with others. This may become more of a problem in the future.
In addition, issues regarding social network websites like Facebook will need to be addressed as it is becoming more popular. Employers have already developed ways to look at interviewees’ (college students) profiles and their backgrounds. However, students do not create their Facebook profiles knowing their potential employer will see it but for other students to see.
One issue that I think should be discussed in Comm 245 is illegal downloading of music, movies, tv shows, etc. Among Cornell students, it is very frequent for students to go to DC++ to download songs they want or a new episode of some tv show they like to watch. In addition, it would be interesting in the future to talk about the growing popularity of iPhones and Blackberry and how they affect social interaction and relationships.
Article quoted: http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr00/addiction.html
No comments:
Post a Comment