Type, Don't Talk--Get Intimate with E-Mail

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Megan Galbraith
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TYPE, DON'T TALK
Get Intimate with E-mail

ìUsers can achieve more intimacy on-line than they commonly do face-to-face,î according to research by Joseph Walther, assistant professor of communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

A ìbad hair dayî or mismatched socks wonít have any effect on an e-mail conversation, but they might in a face-to-face talk. Communicating using e-mail, says Walther, can be more gratifying and intimate.

Walther calls this ëhyperpersonal communication.í

E-mail operates without body language cues such as shrugs, smiles, and smirks, that create barriers to communication, Walther says.

ìE-mail is easy to edit and is blind to physical cues,î says Walther. ìYou can present yourself in your best light. You don't have to worry about such things as holding in your stomach.î

ìCommunication isnít always about efficiency. Itís sometimes about identity and ëWho do I want you to think I am?í When e-mail and language are the only tools you have for communication, you can project yourself in whatever way you desire, with greater flexibility.î Walther says.

In fact, computers can be useful in forcing people to say what they really mean.

ìThereís a certain thoughtfulness and reflection that you often cannot afford in real-time, face-to-face, interaction,î he says.

ëHyperpersonal communicationí works best, according to his studies, when the more rudimentary means of expressing emotions electronically (like :-) to convey happiness), are superseded by a better use of language.

Walther says getting to know someone on e-mail is sometimes more gratifying than meeting face-to-face because people can be more relaxed when they communicate via computer.

Walther is one of the first people to look at the Internet from an interpersonal relations perspective. He has worked with teams of students across the globe to answer such computer-era questions as "how do we form relationships with each other when we're invisible, communicating via computer?"