User:Kate Carter-Rigg/sandbox

Early positive view

In 1991, Stone argued that when virtual communities began forming, this process generated a new type of social space where people could still apparently meet face-to-face, but this required a re-definition of the terms “meet” and “face-to-face.” These virtual communities allowed people to effortless access others, and in many ways to feel better connected, feel that they receive greater support from others, and to obtain emotional satisfaction from their families, communities and society.^[2]

Pseudocommunity theory

In 1987, this understanding of social spaces was challenged by scholars such as James Beniger. Beniger questioned whether these virtual communities were “real” or were pseudo communities,^[3] “a pattern relating that, while looking highly interpersonal interaction, is essentially impersonal.”^[1] He put forward the idea that in a society within the virtual world, participants lack the necessary honesty it would take to create a “real” virtual community.^[3]

Weakening of social ties

In many cases the introduction of the Internet as a social instigator may cause a repercussion leading to a weakening of social ties. In a study conducted in 1998, Robert Kraut et al. discovered that Internet users were becoming less socially involved. They linked this to an increase in loneliness and depression in relation to use of the Internet.^[4] Though these findings may have been sound, in a later study, Kraut et al.^[5] revisited his original study with the idea of expanding his current initial sample and correlating it with new subsequently collected longitudinal data. This synthesis produced a different outcome than the one that Kraut had original presented.^[5]

In this newer paper, Kraut stated that there were less negative affects than he had originally found, and in some cases the negative effect had vanished. In the second study he saw that small positive effects began to appear in social involvement and psychological well-being. Assessing the effect of the Internet over a period of time saw people’s use of the Internet increase in sophistication.^[5]

During the Kraut et al. study, the researchers asked reclusive people if they use the Internet to counteract the loss of social skills that are needed in face-to-face encounters.^[5] They also asked people with strong social skills whether they use the Internet to amplify their abilities to network amongst people. The study discovered that these people who already possessed strong social skills were the ones who received the most beneficial outcome to using the Internet. The concluding analysis was, that rather than helping to decrease the difference between those who already had social skills compared with those lacking in social skills, internet use had actually exacerbated the differences in the skill level needed for social interaction.^[5]

Assisting reclusive people

This theory was later challenged in a study, by McKenna et al.^[6], that indicated that people who are more socially inept use the internet to create an initial contact which allows them to explore their “true self" within these interactions. These social interactions within cyberspace tend to lead to closer and high quality relationships which influence face-to-face encounters. In essence, these findings meant that although it is not clear whether the internet helps reclusive people develop better social skills, it does allow reclusive people to form relationships that may not have existed otherwise because of their lack of comfort with interpersonal situations in general. When these relationships emerge into face-to-face relationships it is hard to distinguish these relationships from those that started as face-to-face interactions. Future studies on this topic may allow scholars to define whether or not society is becoming too dependent on the Internet as a social tool.^[6]