Before coming to Cornell my freshman year, one of my future suitemates IMed me over the summer and we talked a few times online before school. We had the basic “get to know you” conversations concerning our interests, activities, summer jobs, future majors, etc. When we finally met on move-in day, I was taken by surprise. My suitemate was not who I expected her to be and I initially did not like her.
I think that my experience of leaving virtuality fits with the hyperpersonal theory. I had an idealized impression of what I thought my suitemate would be like. Because we only spoke 2 or 3 times, I did not know much about her, and I overattributed the few cues I got. On the internet, we got along well. While her interests were slightly different from mine, we still connected and the conversations flowed easily. I figured this would carry over into our ftf interaction. However, when I met her, I was surprised by her personality, tone of voice, and expressions – it did not seem like we had anything in common. According to the hyperpersonal theory, CMC allows users to selectively self-present and “senders tailor messages to cater exceedingly positive impressions” (Ramirez & Want). We both tried to give each other good impressions of ourselves and also focused on things we had in common. So when I finally met her, I did not expect her to be so different from me. The hyperpersonal model predicts negative outcomes for leaving virtuality and this fits with my experience: when we first met, I formed a negative impression of my suitemate.
This leaving virtuality also fits with one of the main results discussed in Ramirez & Wang. In the study, participants rated the social information acquired by modality switching as an expectancy violation despite the short-term versus long-term measures. Similarly, when I first met my suitemate in person after talking to her online, she was not who I expected her to be. Our ftf interaction provided me with a lot more information than I had gotten online. Seeing how she expressed herself and acted around others, gave me more insight into who she was but this did not fit with who I thought she was.
Overall, “initial in-person encounters following a period of online interaction have the potential to significantly influence interpersonal processes and outcomes” (Ramirez & Wang). My online impression differed from my ftf impression and initially, this led me to form a negative impression of my suitemate. But despite the original negative expectancy violation, she ended up becoming one of my closest friends at school.
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Stefani,
Nice job! I had a similar experience with my roommate last year. We had lots in common and got along well over the internet. However, when I finally arrived at Cornell, I found him eating soup at 4 in the morning, slurping quite loudly. :( Anyway, I think you did a great job connecting your story to the hyperpersonal model. I enjoyed reading your analysis of modality switching, in which you found, with more information via ftf communication, a much different person from whom you originally picture.
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