Hyperpersonal Elements in CMC

The idea of hyperpersonal Computer Mediated Communication is an interesting concept.  Looking back to my interpersonal communication on the internet is weird to analyze.  One reason is that I feel like the way I interact online is so different now at 20 than it was at 15, and definitely more different than when I was 10.  My childhood was chronologically synchronous with a lot of the things we learn about in lecture, especially in terms of the proliferation of chat rooms, forums and instant messaging on the internet.  And, I was growing up around the time Facebook and Myspace were gaining traction.  That being said I feel as though I can speak to both types of CMC. I didn’t do a lot of forum or chat room interacting- I think at that point I was too young.  But I do remember creating an aim account because it was big with my friends in middle school.  The type of communication, and who you communicate with online are obviously different.  In retrospect, one thing I noticed about the quality and quantity of communication was the possibility to be engaged in many different conversations at the same time.  In FtF it’s hard to maintain concentration with even two people speaking at the same time (just ask my mother) but, the power of CMC is such that I could be in individual chats with six or seven people and still maintain concentration and quality conversation with them all. 

This specific example shows the way in which CMC can lead to more socially desirable interaction than we tend to experience in similar FtF context.  Another thing I also noticed in the willingness to reach outside of my immediate circle for interpersonal communication.  I talked with my friend a lot on aim, but I saw myself talking to my acquaintances from school as well.  So I was in a position to better maintain relationships outside of school hours, and foster new friend ships with those who I might bot have be as prone to talk to in a FtF school setting. 

It’s hard to experience something only to have some social scientist tell you that you or another did the things you did for reason ‘x’.  That being said, the experts say certain factors play into making hyperpersonal communication a possibility:

One factor is self-selective presentation.  I don’t know about others, but there have been times for me when I’ve interacted with someone FtF and then computer mediated, or vise versa, and I’ve thought that in one way there personality is much more annoying than it is in the other way. One obvious thing that comes to mind is voice.  Often, a voice will annoy me, but through the computer that part of the sender can be set aside and ignored.  What’s interesting about selective presentation is that even subconsciously we can alter ourselves, leave information out, or just exist knowing that some cues are going to be left out naturally in the CMC format.