virtual relationships a03

• It is not straightforward as assuming that people always discslose more on the internet. Paine found et al degree of self-disclosure depends on whether user anticipates the information to become available to a wider audience or just to close friends. people can present an 'edited' version of themselves, create a socially desirable identity which doesn't actually involve any self-disclosure about theirtrue selves. In the second case, willing to disclose more personal information, as they are relatively confident in their friends' acceptance. This suggests that amounts of self dislosure may depend on how trustworthy a person is percieved tp be . THis contradicts the claim that gating is absent in all virtual relationships, as there is the possibility that information can become publicly available which may reduce the quantity and quality of self-disclosure.
• Moreover reserach has shown reserach support for teh absence of gating and that virtual relationships may be particularly helpful for shy people as they are able to overcome the barriers they face when trying to form relationships in real life. To test this Baker and Oswald 2010 surveyed 207 male and female students about their shyness, facebook usage and quality of their friendships. For students who scored highly for shyness, greater use of facebook was associated with higher perceptions of friendship quality. This highlights the positive role of virtual relationships for shy individuals.
• However there are cultural differences in self disclosure. Research into virtual relationships is based on the experiences of mainly Western, technologically developed cultures. Internet technology is not readily available in some countries, so the conclusions about the development and effects of virtual communication on romantic relationships cannot be applied to them. In addition, attitudes to self-disclosure are different in different cultures. For example, Nakanishi (1986) found that, in contrast to American culture, women in Japan preferred lower levels of self-disclosure in close relationships. This demonstrates that the level of self-disclosure depends on cultural norms, and may affect the communication styles online. This lowers the validity of research into virtual relationships, limiting the range of relationships it explains.