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Introduction

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CMC

Nowadays, web-based communication accounts for a significant proportion of our total communication (at least for most of us). Emails, short messages (SMS, WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram…), Social Networks… whenever people use a computer connected to a network in order to exchange messages between each other we refer to it as computer-mediated communication (CMC). Initially, computer-mediated communication was mostly work-related. Often people would not even have a computer at home, but only at the office, and the communication was limited to sending business emails. Once home computers became more popular, it moved away from the working environment and began revolutionizing the private life of everyone. Today, we carry a computer in our pocket and use it several times a day to discuss business and send private messages. In 1989, 15% of all American households had a computer, in 2013 this number had increased to nearly 80%. Therefore, computer-mediated communication as such has changed, and with the increase of personal computers it evolved from a work-related medium to a more playful medium (Jibril & Abdullah). A Pew report published in 2010 revealed that the text message was the most frequently used form of communication among teenagers, including face-to-face communication (NYMAG). The SIP theory (social information processing), developed in 1992 by Joseph Walter, explains how people interact with each other and establish relationships in a non-verbal and computer-dependent, and thus computer-mediated environment. The theory states that people who communicate with each other via computer (for any reason whatsoever) actively build a social relationship between themselves. Furthermore, the theory implies that it takes more time to establish this social relationship than it would take to establish a similar F2F (face-to-face) relationship. The lack of non-verbal signals in computer-mediated communication significantly limits the scope of the exchange, which is why more messages and thus more time are required. A key aspect of this theory is that users of a medium will adapt to it and find ways to overcome the shortcomings that result from using it. (Walther & D’Addario)