Notes

provides opportunities for those who have difficulty verbally expressing themselves in a F2F situation. In CMC they can express themselves without constraints, taking as much time as they want

Other examples are internet dating and support lists. These Internet interactions also require that emotions are shared and talked about. There would be no successful dating without expressing positive emotions and intimacy, and there would be no support for whatever cause without the communication of positive emotions and empathy. In other words, the assumption that CMC can only entail formal and unemotional interactions is not justified on the basis of these observations.

More direct evidence of the possibility to share emotions online in a satisfactory way is based on the results of computer-mediated therapies. Patients who are afraid to seek F2F therapy, because of anxiety or stigmatization, or people with restricted mobility can be reached by these initiatives.

Although there is no evidence directly and systematically comparing conversations on the same topics in F2F and CMC, the indirect evidence with regard to the success of internet dating, support lists and MSN

Moreover, the findings with regard to the success of internet therapy suggest that the relative anonymity of CMC creates a safer environment for some people to share emotions and to facilitate self-disclosure

anonymous nature of the interaction is the most important determinant of the relative ease and frequency with which both positive and negative emotions are expressed in CMC

A second, related difference is the greater controllability of our emotional reactions online. One of the features that have traditionally been conceived of as distinctive of emotion, is its uncontrollable or impulsive nature

One of the characteristics of CMC is its reduced spontaneity. We expect an individual to have more control over the expression of emotion in CMC, because there often is a time-lag and there is therefore room to choose to what extent and how you want to show your emotions to your interaction partner. As messages have to be typed, there is time to think, reflect and the possibility to read them over and change them before sending. CMC may therefore inhibit one’s impulses and lead to more controlled emotion expressions. And, finally, because of the invisibility of your interaction partner, there is no risk of the other noticing your unconsciously leaking non-verbal emotional expressions. We may therefore hypothesize that emotions can be regulated easier in CMC than in F2F, which would imply fewer emotional outbursts