Everyone remembers sending in their Cornell acceptance and receiving their invitation to the lucrative “Class of” website. For this assignment, I asked my friend “Katie” about a relationship she had formed through the online community, which led to an FtF meeting. Katie was first contacted by “Jenna” through AIM, having made her screen name available on her class of 2010 profile. Originally, Katie thought it was really weird and sketchy that someone would get her screen name and message her, but she was also kind of excited to talk to someone before going to Cornell. They talked online for a few months through the summer, usually about typical pre-frosh Cornell stuff like housing and shopping for dorm rooms. They found out they had a lot in common and were interested in a lot of the same kinds of activities. They ended up meeting before Cornell even started because Katie was going to a protest in New York City with some of her friends and invited Jenna to come along with them because she had no one else to go with.
Katie describes being very nervous to meet Jenna because she thought Jenna was so cool online and was afraid she wasn’t going to live up to her expectations. She was very uncertain about meeting her FtF because she was thought they wouldn’t have as much in common as they talked about online. They ended up meeting on the train on the way to the protest and got along great! In fact, they grew to like each other even more because they are now best friends at Cornell.
Katie and Jenna’s experience of “leaving virtuality” fits well with the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. They had a very positive outcome meeting in person after talking online, and the FtF meeting reduced any uncertainty Katie had about how much she would get along with Jenna. When talking online, most of their conversations were about more superficial topics such as what kind of refrigerator to buy for their dorms or which meal plan to get on. After they met in person, they got to know each other on a deeper level. However, I don’t think their experience was in line with Ramirez & Wang’s expectancy violation theory perspective on modality switching. Katie talked to Jenna for a few months before meeting her in person, which would constitute a long-term online association. Ramirez & Wang predict that this would result in a negative and uncertainty-provoking outcome, which is the opposite of what happened. I feel like in this situation, my friend would have been even uneasier had she only talked to Jenna for a few days before meeting her considering how she thought it was weird a random person was instant messaging her. But hey, sometimes random, sketchy online friendships work out for the best!
3 comments:
I had a similar experience with my roommate from freshman year. We met online and talked for months before meeting each other. When we met up before Cornell, I was nervous that she wasn’t going to meet my expectations, and I wouldn’t meet hers. Thankfully, when we met face to face, we hit it off as well as we had online. Unfortunately, my experience here differed from your friend’s experience. After we got up to Cornell for the first time, her true colors came out, and it was revealed that her CMC tactics didn’t live up to her true persona – she turned out to be a real witch. In my case, I think Ramirez & Wang’s expectancy violation theory perspective on modality switching holds true. I’m glad this wasn’t the case with your friend!
Nice Post Nanditha. This is a very good example of Uncertainty Reduction Theory in that Katie was initially uneasy that a stranger IMed her, but their attraction was solidified through FtF interaction. Im wondering what the story would be like from Jenna's perspective, since she was the initiator. Jenna must have thought positively toward Katie, so I wonder how URT might apply to Jenna's point of view. It would seem that the hyperpersonal model would be cited to describe Jenna's point of view, which may or may not have neutralized her positive initial impression, since they ended up becoming best friends.
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