Instant Communication
Many college students are using their computers instead of phones and face-to-face interaction to communicate with friends and family near and far.
by Sarah Krebs
Skiff Staff

One hundred years ago people communicated through mail, telegraph or newspaper. Keeping in touch with friends or relatives hundreds of miles away was a difficult and slow process. The thought of talking directly to someone half-way around the world was inconceivable.

Illustration by Nick McPherson/ SKIFF STAFF

Now a person in Moscow can communicate instantly with someone in Japan or Australia. The information revolution affected the world of communication and the people that use this new technology to communicate.

Julia Jones, a freshman premajor, said she knows the value of the Internet. Having lived in England, Switzerland, the Ukraine and now the United States, Jones said she has friends all over Europe that she keeps in touch with via the Internet.

“I talk to my friends and family online because it is fast and cheap,” Jones said. “I can send my family e-mail and put pictures with it and it is much easier.”

Keith Whitworth, a sociology faculty member, said Internet usage is becoming an increasing trend among college students.

According to a study by Greenfield Online (July 1999), 84 percent of all college students use the Internet. Out of that, 71 percent surf the net more than once daily, over 50 percent surf the net from their dorm room, 40 percent of college students maintain a personal Web page, 61 percent visit entertainment sites, 18 percent visit travel sites and 84 percent plan to purchase a compact disc online.

Jones said another benefit of online communication is anonymity and students are more likely to converse with the opposite sex over the Internet because of it.

“When I call a guy, I can’t speak,” she said. “ I start to forget my English and mix in Russian words and the guy probably thinks I’m retarded.”

“On (instant messenger), he cannot see or hear me and that makes me totally relaxed. I can have music on or I can have people there with me which also helps. Writing is also more focused than jumping from one thought to another on the phone.”

However, Amy Dullning, a freshman radio-TV-film major, said not physically seeing the other person can also be a drawback because it is hard to interpret their feelings.

“On the phone you can hear their happiness, sadness or anger, but on IM you can’t,” Dullning said.

Since communicating on the computer produces an introverted environment, social skills start to decay, said Amy Faulk, a senior marketing major.

“You don’t interact physically with others and you can’t respond very well,” Faulk said. “It is really hard to tell if they are telling you their inner feelings or if they are just joking around.”

Whithworth said college students are very vulnerable to Internet addiction because of the available Internet access and the expectation of computer use. He said college students will also often deny problematic behaviors and have trouble with their sense of control when using the computer. To some, the Internet is their social outlet. They are part of Web-communities that can become their family.

“It doesn’t really stop social skills because you are still communicating with other people,” said Bee J. Tapley, a sophomore religion major. “You may not be in the same room, but you are still communicating with your friends and talking to them.”

When it comes to degrading social interaction, Dullning said she agrees.

“People are on (the Internet) way too much and because people always seem to talk either online or through e-mail, it is almost like we don’t have as many social skills,” she said.

Whitworth said data does not indicate the Internet degrades their social skills. Students can be part of Web-communities that can become their family, he said.

“I think that social skills will still be developed by interaction in everyday lives,” said Michelle Barnett, a freshman English major. “Although the Internet can be impersonal, it does make it easier to interact with someone that you don’t know that well. It serves as an ice breaker. People from different places interact despite distances.”

Whitworth said when people are online they can talk, exchange ideas and even assume personae of our own creation. They can create Cyber-communities and develop a new identity through the Cyber-community. In these communities, people are unsure of their footing, inventing themselves as they go along.

Jones said people online can pretend to be anything they want.

“I was talking to this Italian guy who seemed pretty nice,” Jones said. “He wrote me poetry and sent roses and his picture for my birthday. We decided to meet in Switzerland and he was nice, but overbearing and then started getting crazy. It was the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Whitworth said according to a survey done in 2001, 37 percent of Korean women arranged a face-to-face meeting with a “friend” from the Internet and 23 percent of Canadians, 16 percent of Americans and 14 percent of Dutch arrange such meetings.
Another habitually visited Internet forum is the chatroom.

Erin Sullivan, a freshman biology major, said her favorite chatroom is a bingo chatroom that she wandered into after looking at a “Jeopardy” Web site.

“You can go in and play bingo while chatting with people on the side,” Sullivan said. “I mostly talk to the people that I know. We talk about their kids, if they have them, or their classes, if they are a student.”

Whitworth said the survey also reported women feel vulnerable in chatrooms. Sullivan said she liked the bingo site because the people in the chatroom are single females and she does not feel vulnerable.

“I tried other chatrooms, but I didn’t like them,” Sullivan said. “You don’t know who is on and you don’t know if there is a freak there. You can’t tell too much information about yourself because you don’t know what they will do with it.”

In chatrooms, trust or distrust issues occur frequently.

“It depends on the chatroom,” Sullivan said. “If you are in a closed chatroom with your friends, then there is trust. Otherwise I prefer using IM to get to know people. It’s hard to get to know someone without all of the other people knowing too much.”

Of course, the traditional face-to-face human interaction still has its charms. “A personal relationship is still better than the Internet because of voice inflections and expressions,” Sullivan said. “Online you can say something and it is taken fourteen different ways.”

Sarah Krebs
S.D.Krebs@student.tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002