Relationship based online

According to what we covered in class, it is undeniable that the internet has become one of the commonest tool been used in our social life. People prefer to exchange both Facebook, twitter, and instagram address when they first get to know each other, and interact with them online later. Although the previous study: Home Net Project (1998) once assumed that the high technology will bad for human’s social life and neglect of existing relationship, for they will spend more time on facing the screen than facing real people in front of them. The result of the study and the current trends all tell us the truth that high technology maybe kinds of pushing people sitting in front of the screen , it didn’t decrease the communication between people. On the contrast, it helps people with their socialization and even let people set up some close relationship online.

I am a player of the World of Warcraft, and it is not rare to find people making friends during the time they played together and some of them even get married finally. It surprised me at first because my mother always tell me that the information from people I know online maybe faked and ask me never believe with them. Because of the anonymous function of some social network, people may be cheated by their net friends. Just like what we learned in class, compared to the face-to-face communication, which is the most personal way to set up a relationship, communicating online mostly based on texting message and voice messages. It has fewer cues and less presence, which means more impersonal and less warm. We cannot use emotion, body language, and it’s harder to make impression to other people. When taking with people face-to-face, it’s easier to find if they are lying by looking their facial expression and the way they talking. The information exchange are more likely be convinced by people. However, with the rapid development of CMC, we are not limited in the old chat room anymore. We can send message and get the receiver’s reply in a second, and even make video chat by cellphone! Like my boyfriend and I are in a long-distance relationship, he is in China and we also have a time difference problem. However thanks to our Iphone we can make a Face time every day. He can calls me in the morning while I am in night in US and says goodnight to me. He will also reply my twitter or Instagram immediately. Because of these high technologies, it helps the relationship to be more stable, especially for people who cannot meet every day. (Social presence Theory. Close relationship)

Another aspect I want to mention is about the benefits of formatting a relationship online. It said that online relationship are similar to face-to-face relationship of their breath, depth, and quality. From the study we find that 50% of people had moved a relationship from online to FTF, and 22% had either married, were engaged to, or were living with someone they met online. CMC provides a good platform for people who are shy or don’t get enough chance to socializing. For example our international students from China, sometimes we just use the socializing apps to find user nearby and get to know them. It is the quickest way to find other Chinese people once you come to a new place. I also believe relationship set up online can be as stable as FTF, because people may be attracted by others’ appearance by meet them FTF, but when you start to know somebody online, you are more likely to know his or her personality. Their hobbies, their moods, and small things happened to them every day. It is a really a good way to understand someone online and know more details about him or her. And these are fundamental things before setting up a close relationship. (Relationships formation)