Love and friendship in cyberspace

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Since its birth in the early 1960's the Internet has been growing exponentially in all areas and itis predicted that by the year 2002, 490 million people around the world will have Internetaccess. Similarly, a rapidly increasing number of people are finding themselves working andplaying on the Internet, using computer mediated communication (CMC) to converse, exchangeinformation, debate, court, and show compassion. As a result CMC has become a new way forpeople to find or meet each other via social Internet tools and form and develop personalrelationships. Malcolm R. Parks (1997) compiled a theory of relational development,incorporating seven dimensions along which the nature of interaction changes as relationshipsdevelop or deteriorate: 1. Interdependence (influence on each other), 2. Breadth (variety ofinteraction), 3. Depth (intimacy of interaction), 4. Commitment (expectations that a relationshipwill continue), 5. Predictability and understanding (familiarity with each other), 6. Code change(creating own linguistic forms and culture) and 7. Network convergence (introducing each otherto respective online contacts and social networks).This study investigated the relational development reached in interpersonal relationshipsinitiated and maintained online via social Internet tools. As mainly South Africans responded,results provide first time information about South African Web users' online relationships.Results show that the majority of online relationships reached above average levels of relationaldevelopment as measured by elevated scores on most of the seven dimensions. The resultsalso show significant differences between the levels of relational development reached in onlinefriendships as opposed to online romantic attachments. The results are consistent with pastresearch and could be used as a point of departure for further investigations into South African'sInternet social practices and relational development in online settings.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University