Something that happened to a stranger a week or so ago is a good example of online-to-FTF interaction.
I was waiting for the TCAT bus at about 8:00PM last week when a girl approached me and asked if I had any money. I thought this was quite strange, and I asked her why she needed it. She began to tell me about an interaction that occurred between her and a student at Cornell. She told me that she was from Michigan and she met a kid on MySpace, and he sent her a bus ticket to come visit him at school. She went on to say that she met him at his frat, but he kicked her out when she refused to have sex with him. She needed money because now she didn't have a way back to Michigan, but unfortunately I was unable to help her, and directed her to the campus police.
This was a very unfortunate occurrence for the girl, but I think she could have used better judgment than to visit a complete stranger hundreds of miles away. She may have felt she knew him better than she did, and that is what led her to believe she could trust him. This goes along with Ramirez and Wang's view that switching from CMC to FTF can result in negative views and disappointment. The male at Cornell obviously had different expectations, and they were clearly violated. The girl's expectations were also violated, as she didn't expect the relationship to be sexual. Ramirez and Wang's ideas were upheld in this situation.
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2 comments:
Hey Tyler! Wow, I have to say, what a terrible story. I can't believe someone would actually do something like that. Anyway, I think this is a great example of a relationship undergoing a modality switch. Do you think the time length of their online relationship affected their expectancy violations? Obviously you don't know the details of their relationship, but obviously they had talked to each other long enough to warrant a trip and expectations of a physical relationship. This long-term online relationship would explain the disappointment (and the girl's rejection) according to Ramirez and Wang. What kind of theories do you think this situation could be applied to? Interesting post!
That really is a sad little story. This is a great example of how deception, and selective self-presentation can give someone the wrong idea about a person's character. It really does make one wonder how well this girl thought she was acquainted with the frat guy before the FtF encounter became a wakeup call. It would have been nice if you had gone into more detail about how this fits Ramirez and Wang. I also would have like to know more about their CMC relationship, however I understand that you don't have all of that information. Do you think she had a hyperpersonal perspective of the male, or maybe was just completely deceived by him and formed an entirely false impression of him?
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