11: Leaving Virtuality

In the months prior to receiving my Cornell email address, the “Class of” website served as a means through which I could stalk my future classmates, roommates, and friends. It was through this very website that I began my friendship with Justine, the person who drives me to and sits next to me in class every Tuesday and Thursday. Judging solely from our “Class of” profiles, Justine and I had a lot in common-- our major, our taste in music, and our birthday—all of which are still very relevant in our friendship today. We must have communicated for a few months via the Internet before arriving at Cornell at which point we decided to meet face-to-face. Although communicating FTF is inherently much different than CMC, our commonalities have helped us maintain a friendship throughout our time at Cornell.

My experience “leaving virtuality” was ultimately a positive one, supporting the findings of the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. This theory states that reducing uncertainty about a person increases attraction, which definitely holds true in this scenario. Having “met” Justine online prior to meeting face-to-face, I was already aware of the fact that we had some common interests, reducing uncertainty and increasing social attraction.

While this does support the Uncertainty Reduction Theory, my experience does not coincide with the findings of Ramirez & Wang. The study predicts that a transition from CMC to FTF that spans a time period of 3+ weeks will lead to disappointment and negative effects. As I said before, Justine and I communicated for a few months before we met FTF, so our transition would be considered long-term and negative effects would be expected. Based on the fact that Justine and I are still friends, I am fairly certain that was not the situation.

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