12: CMC in the Future

I think that in the future, as new technologies are created, we will see even more computer mediated communication. It will be interesting to see how people will respond to new technology. Right now, so many of us are online all of the time to the point that problematic internet use has been recognized as a type of problem. So will we eventually “correct ourselves” and focus more on ftf interactions with future generations? Will we ever stop and say enough is enough? Children are getting on the computer at younger and younger ages, will it ever become a TV replacement? Overall, I think it will be fascinating to see how we will continue to deal with the new media, how we will raise our kids in a media-dominant society and the different directions the media will move in.

While I believe this new technology will change theories we hold now about impression formation, I think that some of the basic ideas of theories will stay the same. With regards to the Cues Filtered Out Perspective, I think that it will slowly start to fade and not really be used anymore. At this point in time, it is not truly accurate of the impressions people make online, so in the future, I do not think it will be used. However, I think that the Social Information Processing Theory and the Hyperpersonal model will continue into the future. People will continue to adapt cues into the verbal channel and while I think that the length of time needed to get an impression similar to ftf will keep getting shorter, for now, time is still needed. With the hyperpersonal model, I think that online, because people can, they will try to portray themselves in the best way possible and selectively self present certain cues, and then will over attribute the few cues they receive. While it may be harder to do this in the future, I do not think it will go away very quickly.

A topic that might be a part of psychology of social computing in the future is virtual classrooms. Will they become common in colleges and universities? What does a community look like in this type of “classroom,” do students do better or worse, should there even be virtual classrooms? Classes right now have changed to keep up with cmc with powerpoints instead of writing on the board and discussion boards online. Will education continue to move in a cmc direction?