Once upon a time, in Cornell University, lived the neighbors R and C. Despite being neighbors, R and C rarely see each other due to their class schedules and the fact that neither R nor C comes over to the other’s dorm.
About a month into the semester, while procrastinating, R found C on Facebook and added her as friend. They chatted a couple of times on the wall and learned about things they have in common (e.g. BEE, masters of procrastination, gamers, having royal screw-ups during preenrollment, etc, etc). R even found out that C is somewhat psychotic (iconoclastic according to C), much like R himself, who C caught doing Tai Chi at 2am in the morning.
A week or so before Thanksgiving, R asked C out to a movie. While walking to and coming back from the movie, R and C chatted FtF for the first time. They learned that they have a mutual interest in art history (a subject which R doesn’t really have a clear memory of), things about each other’s families and friends and that C recently developed a medical condition of which C had an episode during and after the movie (scared the crap out of both of them).
During Thanksgiving break, R and C, being the only person left in their respective dorms, hang out. They watched funny clips (e.g. whose line is it anyways) and Rush Hour 3. They chatted more and ate homemade noodle soup. They learned that they are both fans of philosophies, comedies and Chinese movies and TV series. As for the issue of neuroticism, R concluded that C is more “psychotic” than previously observed and that they are on par in this category, although R remains somewhat superior as he is still able to weird her out.
This relationship fits well into the Social Information Processing (SIP) theory. The SIP states that relationships and impression formation develop more slowly online as all the cues are adapted into verbal channel, which must be typed and read. R’s initial impression of C was that she is just a pretty girl next door whom he wants to get to know. As they interacted online, R found out that they have a lot in common. After they interacted FtF, R found C’s attributes are more exaggerated than previously observed online (namely neuroticisms) and learned more details of C’s interests, but R’s general impression of C didn’t change.
Finally, Ramirez & Wang’ result states that short-term interactions in CMC would lead to positive effect when leaving virtuality, and long-term interactions would lead to a negative effect. This case is consistent with Ramirez & Wang’s result (assuming that 2 months of loose Facebook wall posts and messages counts as short term CMC interaction). However, I have a feeling that in this case, even a longer CMC interaction previous to FtF interaction wouldn’t affect the result very much.
PS: if you want to know who R and C are… Sore wa himitsu desu. =D
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2 comments:
Such a nice little story. Makes me think my Facebook stalking might get me somewhere someday. I think the most interesting aspect is how you say you don't think the longevity of your online communication really had any effect on your offline relationship. Perhaps these theories aren't really applicable if people have compatible enough personalities.
Good post. Your story is a great example for this assignment because it is a relationship that started online and it is a classic example of SIP. Talking through CMC for a while helped R and C develop their relationship so when they did meet FtF, they were more familiar with each other. This story also does demonstrate Ramirez and Wang's findings because I would consider 2 months to be a short time online.
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