Texting vs. face to face communication

At present, there are many tools, forms and methods of communication, and a considerable part of them in one way or another is connected with modern technical capabilities, which, in particular are presented by the global computer network – Internet. This is primarily related to the fact that humanity has made a huge leap in the development of science and technology during last century that opened up new vistas for human activity. Thus the emergence and development of digital and computer technologies, and, subsequently, the mass distribution of personal computers, have opened a new kind of interaction between people. Communication via the Internet is especially important for those people whose real lives, for whatever reason is interpersonally impoverished. Communication can either be verbal, or non verbal, which can be conveyed through texting.

People use the worldwide network of the Internet as an alternative to their direct (real) environment. They use the internet to communicate to other people around the globe by texting one another. This form of communication is contrary to face to face communication since the audience is not a must to be visible to receive the message unlike face to face. In addition, mobile phones assist in texting as a form of communication. The sense behind the mobile is the use of short message service, (sms).  About a half of Internet users utilizes Internet, to expand their social circle, as the computer-mediated communication creates the illusion of companionship without demands of friendship. Thus, the Internet plays a huge role in the organization of such communication. Naturally, all forms of Internet communication, share some characteristics, pros and contras, as follows:

Anonymity – despite the fact that it is sometimes possible to obtain some information of a questionnaire nature, and even the photo of virtual interlocutor, it is not enough for real and more or less adequate understanding of the individual. In addition, virtual communication includes possibility of concealment or presentation of false information. Due to this issue, anonymity and impunity on the web reveals other feature associated with a decrease in psychological and social risk in the communication process – affective suppleness, offensiveness and irresponsibility of participants in a dialogue. People may show greater freedom of statements and behavior (down to insults, foul language, sexual harassment) while communicating via Internet as the risk of exposure and personal negative assessment is minimal.

The peculiarity of the processes of interpersonal perception in the absence of nonverbal information – usually implies a strong influence on the representation of the interlocutor by involving mechanisms of stereotyping and identification, as well as the setting the desired qualities in a partner.  Difficulty in the emotional component of communication in perspective of  persistent desire for emotional content of the text, which is reflected in the creation of special symbols to denote emotions or emotion words in the description (in brackets after the main text of the message).

The desire for atypical and deviant behavior. Internet users are presenting themselves from a different side than under conditions of real social norms thus utilizing unrealizable and lost roles, scenarios deviant behavior and activities outside the network role. As a result, physically unrepresented partners lose barriers of communication caused by such characteristics which are expressed in their external appearance: gender, age, social status, visual appeal, communicative competence of the person.

We can conclude that the anonymity of communication entails a number of consequences. Thus non-verbal means of communication lose their significance in texting via the Internet.  Despite the fact that it is possible to express feelings by using “emoticons” in text communication, the physical absence of the participants in the act of communication leads to the fact feeling that people can not only express but also to hide feelings, as well as express the feelings that people are not currently experiencing.

Works Cited

Barnes, Susan “Computer-Mediated Communication: Human-to-Human Communication Across the Internet”, Allyn & Bacon; 1 edition, 2002.

Joinson, Adam “Understanding the Psychology of Internet Behavior: Virtual Worlds, Real Lives”, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Klotz, Robert “The Politics of Internet Communication”, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003.

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