Computer Mediated Communication

Introduction

The social and cultural transformation and even social interaction that has been influenced by computer and internet is evident in the recent decade. The role played by the new media has increased and is always on the rise, transforming every single life that it touches effecting the individual, but sometimes it has positive and negative effects.

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So, CMC or Computer Mediated Communication can simply be put as a transaction between two or more network computer like chartroom, emails, SNS (Social Networking Sites), text messages etc. This growing topic has been talked and argued by theorists and scholars Joseph Walther, Ramirez and Zhang, Denis McQuail, etc., and has been debated and many other scholars continue to debate and argue on CMC, its scope and reach on vast field in New Media. The following summary throws light on CMC.

Computer Mediated Communication

Various research and thesis says that Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) uses internet to mediate for human communication. This multifaceted medium has its created influence so deep rooted, that the dependence on computer and other communication has also affected the psychology of the human mind.

The communication level varies according the medium of communication chosen; CMC has a great use in the group/team work environment that can help in synchronised to deliver the message perfectly through effective moderation from the CMC participants.

Related: Berlo’s SMCR model of communication

The greatest advantages of CMC are

• Immediate feedback.
• Rich resources thanks to the collective information from different parts of the world.
• Effective communication.
• Effective alternative than other communication medium.
• Bringing people together beyond social, religion circle.

The study on computer mediated communication can be taken in two ways

1. The role taken by the computers in day to day interactions and relationship building.
2. use of language in CMC to keep a track of organisational tasks, and the way emotions and sympathies of the people are affected through CMC.

The variation in the standard of communication as per the professional, cultural and educational circumstances changes along with the medium of communication.

The evolution in the communication process has made massive use of computer as its medium which has brought forward a huge change in the pattern of communication in common people. This type of quick communication process spread across the world in a short period of time that people considered as sense of liberation. This liberation brought forward people to use CMC as a personal and process to communicate to a large communicates that acted as a shootout or as an announcement process.

The CMC is a medium that covers anything and everything that is been looked for; from web magazines/newspapers, events, sharing, connecting and vast knowledge base that is accumulated as world library etc are some that can be related to the human communication – online.

But it can also be noticed that the growing SNS communities to connect the near & dear and people around the world has a huge effect. In the last 10 years the progress of computer network and technology has affected the lifestyle especially adolescents and youth who doesn’t refrain in revealing the personal information in the SNS mediums; such uncontrolled exposure to internet has not only distracted them in growing knowledge but has continuously influence to walk in the wrong path which sometimes puts their life in danger.

Example

Studies has revealed that Cyber Crime, Cyber Bullying, online financial frauds, massive online pedophile networking, pornography has psychologically affected the ones involved has undergone verbal/visual harassment and life threats. The negative and hatred that are spread to world through web portals has also created evident ripples that also bear the effect a nation’s economy or even the government.

Conclusion

It can be said that CMC is the gateway for the psychological traumas like lack of socio-emotions, growing remoteness of addressing people face to face, negative exposure, hacking etc. Still, the new media and its devices have a potential to increase the workforce of the group which eventually increases the production capacity of the team.

No matter the looming threats like distrust, mental stress, the benefits of CMC are unexpectedly vast. It has overwritten some of the traditional methods like face to face communication or rather enhanced it to an effective f2f communication portals like skype, Google Hangout, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, Viber, Kakao Talk, Twitter etc. The truth we face even with the disadvantages that are growing in competition along with every single progress CMC and internet will continue to be on the top with something new to connect people every day and every month.