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From: anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.social,net.singles
Subject: Electronically Mediated Human Relationships
Message-ID: <229@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Sep-86 10:34:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.229
Posted: Mon Sep  1 10:34:12 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Sep-86 04:45:02 EDT
Followup-To: net.social
Distribution: na
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 95
Xref: watmath net.social:1378 net.singles:16113

[long: ~100 lines]

I am posting this to net.social and (this once) to net.singles,
but please direct followups to net.social.

Last month I posted an inquiry about electronically mediated
human relationships. It seemed to spark some interest, and I got
about 1000 lines of responses from various people, some by e-mail,
some on the net. Since then, I've been trying to generalize and
synthesize what people had to say with what I myself suppose to be
the case. 

I'd like to continue along two lines, hoping to expand the base
of information touching on the subject: (a) published research
about the social effects of computers on interpersonal relation-
ships, and (b) further first-hand accounts from people on the net,
detailing their own experiences.

In the first category, please suggest books or articles you know
about (and please provide comments if you have read the materials
yourself) that contain pertinent information.

In the second category, please consider the following assertions
in the light of your own experiences and comment upon them. Note
that I am (so far) making no claims of validity or scope for any
of these assertions, nor am I (yet) trying to deal with their
ambiguities or contradictions. However, in gathering this sort of
information, one of the things I am looking for is qualitative
experiences *and* plausible explanations for those experiences.
This means that the more detail you can give (the whys as well as
the whats), the better.

It will probably be better to e-mail to me than to post, unless
you can't e-mail for some reason. In the end, however, I am plan-
ning to post a summary of my results to the net (I feel certain
the interest will warrant this). In the summary, I am not planning
to give names or other identity clues, but even so I'd rather have
the maximum level of detail you feel comfortable providing. If 
you would rather not have your experience summarized, please put
a note to that effect in your message so I can easily respect 
your wishes. I can still use such information to modify the
generalizations to come. Here we go --

Note: throughout, I'll use EC to mean electronic communication
and ER to mean electronic relationship.

1.  EC is easier because you are not physically seen by the other.
2.  ERs are easier because you remain in control of what the other
    knows about you.
3.  EC has a positive effect on your social life. 
4.  You can get too wrapped up in EC.
5.  EC is important not only to persons, but to computing more
    generally.
6.  The element of distance in ERs is a liability.
7.  EC and ERs lead to bizarre experiences.
8.  Your EC personality differs from your "real" personality.
9.  It is deflating to meet a person you have known though EC.
10. Some people really dislike EC and want only "real" contacts.
11. After some experience with EC, your attitudes towards "real"
    people are different.
12. People are much bolder in EC than in person.
13. Good writers have an advantage in ERs.
14. EC is a buffer in interpersonal transactions.
15. EC is better for very personal things.
16. EC is better for very unpleasant things.
17. EC gives you time to react before responding.
18. EC is not very effective in mundane matters.
19. It is easier to converse via EC than in person.
20. Meeting in person loads the situation with expectations; EC
    avoids this.
21. EC is less threatening.
22. In EC and ERs, you find warmth and responsiveness that is
    harder to find in face-to-face transactions.
23. Withdrawal from an ER can be very disturbing.
24. EC helps the correspondents shuck their defensive armor.
25. EC helps you know the person to a significant extent
    beforehand if you should meet face-to-face.
26. EC fosters letting your expectations rule your behavior.
27. EC makes it easy to be manipulative of others.
28. ERs are much better than no relationships.
29. EC is deficient in not providing for nonverbal clues to
    the states of the other person.
30. ERs will profoundly affect the nature of human society.

Obviously, detailed comments on all these questions would be
a huge chore. I don't know how best to address that problem,
and am assuming that respondents will do what they care to do
about it. 
-- 
==UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz,  =========================Jess Anderson======
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| ARPA:                    anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu   Madison, Wi 53706 |
| BITNET:                            anderson@wiscmacc   608/263-6988      |
| When animals face death, they do not care what                           |
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