Think of the last conversation you had with a stranger online where the conversation escalated to high levels of anger or to the point of you creatively using profanity to express yourself. For some, these memories are recent and vivid, for others such instances do not come to mind at all. Computer Mediated Communication defined as “any means of communication via the internet between individuals or groups” ranging from online chatting like Skype or Tinder, to scholarly forums like Open Society Foundation. Computer Mediated Communication which I shall now refer to as CMC brings the goodness of free and open exchange of information and ideas throughout the world, giving individuals and groups access to the matters important to them quickly and easily. It sounds perfect, but even this has its dark side. Anonymity, Bullying, and the potential to cause a reduction in capacity to grasp social cues, are three aspects of the dark side of CMC which I shall be discussing here in.
Drawing forth again on the last conversation you had with a stranger online, do you remember anything about the person? Who they are, where they are from? Do you know them personally? More often than none the answers fall in the area of anonymity, meaning in this context that both or one of the parties did not actually know the other, more so, even complete strangers. Henceforth since you are talking to a complete stranger who knows nothing of what you look like or who you are, you feel free to say what you really want to say without fear of much repercussion. Anonymity emboldens individuals and groups to let their inner demons reign free, even at someone else’s expense. Often times, CMC is used as a medium for one to release pent up anger and frustration, or to rectify some wrong that has been dealt. For example John Doe gets called names and teased on his bike ride home from work since he does not own a car, so john goes home, get on his CMC and begins to bash someone else in an attempt to feel better about himself.
In another instance brought to light by the television series “Catfish” where the main character Nev falls in love with Megan, a woman he met through CMC, “After failing to meet up with him on several occasions, Nev tries to track Megan down to her home in Michigan, only to find out that she’s the made-up online identity of a bored, stay-at-home mum.” Scenarios such as this are not uncommon in CMC, in fact they happen so often, MTV sponsored the making of Catfish: The TV Show, which follows Nev and his friend Max as they travel the country helping people uncover the real identities of their CMC lovers. The ability to hide who you really are gives you the power to create whatever persona you want, spin yourself in whatever light, and figuratively be whomever you want. Such power with not much responsibility.
Going back to John Doe who is now currently calling someone he’s never met, who’s picture he just saw on a CMC, a ‘Fat Pig’ and telling them to ‘go jump off a cliff’. John would never say such rude and inappropriate things to someone in a face to face setting because he would not be able to live with himself if he witnessed the amount of pain his words caused. But when John is behind the computer screen he is detached from those restrictions, free to say anything and not feel bad for it. “My sixteen year old son was cyber bullied on Facebook over a period of 8 hours. The event was so traumatic it caused my son to have an acute psychotic break and to be hospitalized in an adolescent psychiatric ward for almost a month.” Situations like these have become prevalent in today’s CMC run world, where people are being bullied, sometimes by people they know, sometimes by complete strangers. Research by the Cyber Bullying Research Center shows that “about 21% of teens have been cyberbullied and about 15% admitted to cyberbullying others at some point in their lifetimes”. These numbers continue to increase yearly just as the number of CMC sites and apps increase.
So far we have discussed the dark aspects of Anonymity, and Bullying. These two often times complementing and feeding off each other. Henceforth we shall dive into how having predominantly CMC interactions whether they be negative or positive can reduce the capacity for a person or group of people to grasp and understand social cues.
Body language, body posture, and facial expressions are social cues which we use to interpret how someone else is feeling or what they truly mean by their words. Actions speak louder than words, and are easier to understand and to comprehend. But what happens when you are unable to see someone’s actions and can only go based on their words? You are begin to infer or attempt to deduce the meaning behind their words. Individuals make inferences based on what they know, and what they have experienced. Thus if the sender of a message has had different experiences than the receiver, (i.e difference in cultural upbringing), the receiver is very likely to infer, and interpret a message differently from the sender. “Because computer-mediated interactants in a text-based medium cannot see, hear, and feel each other, the absence of regulating feedback (such as gestures, nods, and tone of voice) may cause coordination problems and deprive interactants of salient social cues.”
When placed in a setting of face to face communication, individuals or groups that are used to CMC as their dominant means of communication find that interactions for them are much more “difficult to manage, and as a result, conversation becomes less fluid, less easily regulated and altogether more effortful. When this happens, these individuals or groups default back to CMC and attempt to limit the frequency of face to face interactions as much as possible, leading to high levels of social awkwardness, and the inability to cope in social settings.
In this paper, I have discussed how CMC provides you with the ability of anonymity, thus allowing you to releasing your inner demons and engage in activities you usually would not do, how it is increasingly becoming a habitat that fosters bullying, and how excessive use of CMC causes reduction in the comprehension of social cues. But we must also remember that there is also a bright side, although not explored here, many scholars praise the accomplishments CMC has brought to the world. Thus I end with food for thought, “There are those people who can eat one piece of chocolate, one piece of cake, drink one glass of wine. There are even people who smoke one or two cigarettes a week. And then there are people for whom one of anything is not even an option.” In all things, use moderation.
Works Cited
Sampson, Issy. “Catfish on TV: ‘It’s an Uplifting Show about Self-love’ Say Creators.” Online review. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited or Its Affiliated Companies, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.
“Being Cyberbullied? – Cyberbullying Research Center.” Cyberbullying Research Center. Cyberbullying Research Center Inc, 2014. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.
Schneider, S.K., O’Donnell, L, Stueve, A., and Coulter, R.W.S. (2012). Cyberbullying, school bullying, and psychological distress: A regional census of high school students. American Journal of Public Health, 102(1), 171-177.
“Cyberbullying Facts – Cyberbullying Research Center.” Cyberbullying Research Center Cyberbullying Facts Comments. Cyberbullying Research Center Inc, 2014. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.
Thomas, Abigail. Thinking about Memoir. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print.
Knowledge is out there 