Essay on Important Issues in Computer Mediated Communication

Submitted By wowamber
Words: 730
Pages: 3

Important Issues in Computer Mediated Communication As the technologies improve, computers or other electronic products become the most popular way for people to communicate. Computer-mediated communication is the way in which we communicate through computers. In our daily life, CMC happens through a network of computers in e-mail, Facebook messenger, or a forum. The human relationships development is not only start as face-to-face. Many of us make new friends through social network. CMC sometimes create a comfortable way for people to know each other before they meet. However, CMC will never replace face to face (F2F). Human contact is important and necessary, especially in the school or company. Although CMC is able to bring people together from any places in the world who never have the chance to interact, we still need to communicate each other by face-to-face. We briefly summarize evidence from several empirical studies, all of which suggest that computer-mediated communication, and in particular email, is less valuable for building and sustaining close social relationships than face-to-face contact and telephone conversations (Cummings, Butler & Kraut 2002).
CMC and face-to-face both have their advantages. Through CMC, we can receive sender’s messages in convenient way but without body language and eye contact, whereas face-to-face receive sender’s messages immediately with feelings but inconvenient. Most of young generation use CMC to build relationships. As a matter of fact, CMC has become an issue that many people are aware of speak in front of people. Kraut et al. (1998) argued that the Internet is causing people to become socially isolated and cut off from genuine social relationships, as they hunker alone over their terminals or communicate with anonymous strangers through a socially impoverished medium.
It is true that computers make people talk less, and lose the social relationships. My sister and I live together, but for convenient, sometimes we use Facebook messenger to communicate with each other’s. This make us can have no interaction even we live together. CMC is a medium for people to communicate; it helps maintain the relationships, but has no emotions and feelings. We will not have intimacy until we face-to-face meet each others. Intimacy is necessary in the creation and maintenance of relationships, as it is defined as the sharing of a person’s innermost being with another person, i.e., self- disclosure (Hu, Wood, Smith, & Westbrook, 2004).
CMC compel people to lose the interaction and intimate moments with others. It makes people become more depend on computer rather than face-to-face. It is very anxious that new generations use computers and smart phones all the day. Back in the old days, computer is not very popular. Not all the family can afford to buy for their children. I have not use the computer to communicate