To what extent does instant messaging harm interpersonal relationship?

1. To what extent does instant messaging
harm interpersonal relationships?
JuYoungPARK
DigitalCultureandSociety
iamju0@gmail.com
20 | 08 | 2015
Pre-sessional course

2. How much time do you spend on
messaging using messenger apps?
WARM UP
(from shutterstock)

3. Double Edged Sword !!!
WARM UP
(from shutterstock)

4. To what extent does instant messaging
harm interpersonal relationships?
TITLE

5. OUTLINE
01
02
03
• Positive aspects of IM for interpersonal relationships
• Negative aspects of IM for interpersonal relationships
To what extent does instant messaging
harm interpersonal relationships?
INTRODUCTION
POSTIVE / NEGATIVE
CONCLUSION
• Definition of key-words ;
Instant Messaging(IM), Interpersonal Relationship, IM Anxiety
• Trend and issue of IM
• Importance of understanding both sides
• Suggestion of further study

6. INTRODUCTION
A type of service available on the internet
that allows you to exchange written messages
(Cambridge Dictionaries Online, 2015)
The sense of anxiety and/or dread one feels
when an IM is left unanswered for more than about 30 sec.
(Urban Dictionary, 2011)
Instant messaging (IM)
Interpersonal Relationship
Instant Message Anxiety
A strong bond between two or more people refers to interpersonal relationship.
(Management Study Guide, 2013)
 Definition of Key-words
EX) What’s App, WeChat, LINE, KaKaoTalk,
FaceBook Messenger…

7. INTRODUCTION
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
IM MESSAGES SENT IN THE UK EACH YEAR
(In billions)
(Deloitte& Ofcom, 2014)
IM became
PREVALENT &
IMPERATIVE
 Trend & issue of IM

8. INTRODUCTION
 Trend & issue of IM
P Nositive egative
UNDERSTANING BOTH SIDES IS VITAL
VS
(from noun project)
Dividing Views on IM regarding
interpersonal relationship.

9. POSITIVE
IM might be advantageous to build interpersonal relationships
(Chung & Nam, 2007).
P
 Allowing users from any global location to engage in a real-time
interactions. (LIN, Si, 2012).
 Establishing Social bonds within groups successfully.
(Contreras-Castillo, Pe´rez-Fragosob, & Favelac, 2006)
 Bringing mediation effects; mood sharing, expressing thoughts and mutual understanding.
→ offering an effective outlet to relieve tensions by interacting.
( Lin et al, 2007)
ositive

10. NEGATIVE
Negative
IM, based on the virtual world,
is definitely different from face-to-face communication (Curtis and Lawson 2001).
 Carrying facilitating communications via IM might be challenging.
∵ Lack of emotional expression
 Causing negative feelings when there is a delay in replying.
= IM Anxiety ” (LIN, Si, 2012)
 A disruption when in meetings with others off-line.
→ Suggesting the limitation of IM,
which may negatively impact on interpersonal relationships.

11. NEGATIVE
Limitations of exchanging emotions, transmitting voice tones,
gestures, eye contacts unlike face-to-face communications
could occur misinterpretation.
(Markus, 1994)
According to the theory of social presence,
if there is a medium instrument between users,
“the sense of presence of
face-to-face communication and social affection is missing” (Rogers, 1986)
 Carrying facilitating communications via IM might be
challenging. ∵ Lack of emotional expression
(from noun project)
(from www.kompop.org)

12. NEGATIVE
Moreover, users can notice others’ presence,
receivers are required to response within a short time
(Chung & Nam, 2007).
Pressure of responding in real-time
deprives time to think how to reply
→ Causing misunderstanding and even conflicts.
 Causing negative feelings when there is a delay in replying.
= IM Anxiety (LIN, Si, 2012)
Users can know whether the other read the message or not.

13. NEGATIVE
When we use IM while meeting someone in person at the same time,
It can leave an unfavourable impression.
→ IM might be an annoying distractor.
∵ The other person may feel unimportant.
(Avrahami & Hudson, 2006b)
In this context,
Alarms from IM might be also a distractor.
 A disruption when in meetings with others off-line.
(from noun project)

14. CONCLUSION
Understanding both sides, we can better use of it.
-Avoiding those negative impacts.
-Intensifying the advantage to complement communication.
Unless, we are likely to make more mistakes while using IM.
 Importance of understanding both sides
Tendency of overlooking the negative sides of IM
on interpersonal relationships.
However, there are also significant negative sides with positive sides.
 There are also negative aspects of IM

15. CONCLUSION
 Suggestion
Further studies regarding the instructions of IM is required
to guide users to better use of it.
After acknowledging both sides of IM,
the digital society would be:
-In harmony
-More flourished
-No side-effects of new technology
 Expectation

16. REFERENCE
Definition
Graph & Images
Researches
Instant messaging http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/instant-messaging
Interpersonal Relationship http://www.managementstudyguide.com/interpersonal-relationship.htm
Instant Message Anxiety http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=IM+anxiety
Avrahami, D. & Hudson, S. (2006b). Responsiveness in instant messaging: predictive models supporting inter-personal communication. In Proceedings of the SI
GCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, 731-740
Contreras-Castillo, Pe´rez-Fragosob, & Favelac, (2006) Assessing the use of instant messaging in online learning environments
Chung, D.S., Nam, C.S. (2007) An analysis of the variables predicting instant messenger use
Lin, C., Sun, Y., Lee, Y., & Wu, S. (2007). How instant messaging affects the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal behaviour of Taiwan junior high school students.
Adolescence, 42(166), 417-430.
LIN,Si. (2012) Instant Messaging on Interpersonal Relationship: How It Brings Intimacy and Negative Felling?
Markus, M. L. (1994). Finding a happy medium: explaining the negative effects of Electronic Communication on Social Life at Work. ACM Transactions on Infor
mation Systems, 12(2), 119-149.
Rogers, P. L., Berg, G. A., Boettecher, J. V., Howard, C., Justice, L., & Schenk, K. (2009). (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Second Edition. New York: Infor
mation Science reference.
7p (Deloitte& Ofcom, 2014) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2538488/SMS-takes-seat-IM-number-texts-sent-Britain-falls-time
.html
2,3,11p http://www.shutterstock.com/
8,13p https://thenounproject.com/
11p(Markus) http://www.kompop.org/

17. Q & A