After a short hesitation, I decided to enter the ICQ "Newbies" chatroom. I felt a little nervous to enter chatrooms as I haven't jumped into one with strangers since middle school. The room description was "For Newbies and first time chatters. Don't be afraid!" sounded friendly. I felt swarmed with more than 30 members talking. Only 4~5 people engaged in public conversations. Conversation going on was synchronous, although at times different topics surfaced. Although I privately chatted with a couple of users, xchristmasy talking publicly caught my attention.
He's a middle-age, divorced male with children, living in US. Because I missed the initial introduction, I was not able to gather more information on the user. I suspect he was known to other members previously although this room is titled newbies, because other people ended their screen names with "y's", but that may be a popular trend I am not aware of. However, many people showed some knowledge of ICQ chat program by using "action commands" which announced the user's customized actions, such as giving someone a lolly pop. I felt out of place in this space, and suspect negative opinions were influenced my judgment on xchristmasy.
On the scale for neuroticism, I scaled xchristmasy high, because I considered discussing details of divorce and childcare situation with strangers in a chat room with no specific topic, abnormal. He sounded extremely extroverted, as he addressed others friendly and responded with ease. In comparison to my view, other users found him highly agreeable. His story was met with sympathy and his actions with approval. When he decided to exit, many users "gave hugs" with cute smiley symbols. I viewed his conscientiousness low, because he was critical of his wife having visitation rights.
My experience supported Hyperpersonality Model. I also only heard about his divorce, not his positive experiences or characters. His attempt to portray himself a victim irritated me. With limited cues, his usage of a mixture of bold bright blue and regular lavender font played a role on my opinion-formation. I felt prejudiced against a middle-age male spending time on decorating his fonts instead on weekday afternoons.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It's interesting to think about how this man probably wouldn't be so open about discussing his personal life (a divorce and the consequential issues with his children & wife) with strangers he encountered on the street or while grabbing his morning coffee at Starbucks. The complete anonymity of being online and not face to face with other human beings creates a feeling of protection around users, which obviously encourages each to get as personal as they please others.
Not being able to see or hear the person sitting at the other computer would scare me into complete silence, but many people seem to embrace it. I think the lack of cues (such as vocal) had a lot to do with the negative impression you formed of this man as he discussed his home life.
Maybe with more time, as the developmental aspect (SIP) explains, your impression would change to a better one. With time, you would be able to learn more specific details about the situation. More information would put you in a better position to form a more solid impression.
I feel a bit sorry for him; I can't imagine being lonely enough that I would have to discuss my divorce in a chat room.
I enjoyed reading about your experience, but I was confused when you mentioned the nicknames that ended in "y." I didn't really catch why that suggested to you that the other users seemed to know the man about whom your blog was written. I was also unclear as to why you found him to be neurotic. I definitely see why you chose the hyperpersonal model, but I think it's also possible to argue that your impression of this man is in line with the CFO theory.
That is an interesting experience. I am confused about a couple of things. First, is the "y" thing, I just didn't get it.
The big things I am confused about is if you yourself talked with him, and if that makes a difference, and also how you made impressions of other peoples impressions.
These are just thought provokers. To me, I think that it is completely reasonable to make an assumption of someone else's impression. It could follow the idea of Hyperpersonal impressions even more. For example, the over-attribution process will be amplified because you have your own impression of the original person, plus the reaction of the other speaker, and because there are two, you'll make a much more over-attributed impression.
Post a Comment