Internet-Based Communication

Abstract

Google the question, “How is the Internet changing the way we communicate?,” and you will find no shortage of opinions, or fears, about the Internet altering the way we communicate. Although the Internet is not necessarily making communication briefer (neither is the Internet making communication less formal), the Internet is manifesting our preference for writing over speaking. I propose that our preference for communicating through Internet-based text derives from a fundamental feature of writing: In contrast to speech, which is most often synchronous, text is most often asynchronous.

Speech Behavior and Multimodality in Online Communication among Teenagers

“…On average, people spend 3.2 hours a day chatting on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. As for Instagram, 40 million photos with 1,000 comments and 8,500 likes made per second are uploaded to the platform every day [6].…”

Why internet-based education?

“…However, many college-level instructors rate their students’ writing skills as only fair ( Purcell et al, 2013 ). Internet-based higher education can enhance students’ writing skills by capitalizing on the Internet’s inherently text-based mode of communication ( Gernsbacher, 2014 ) and the Internet’s inherently broad-based audience ( Ellison and Wu, 2008 ).…”

“…In essence, each student writes the equivalent of a five-page double-spaced paper each of 15 weeks. Text-based communication on the Internet is a feature, not a bug ( Gernsbacher, 2014 ).…”

Reading literacy skills in the new external exams in Poland

“…The recent years have witnessed a shift from spoken to written communication. It is mainly due to the prevalence of digital devices, which results in general preference for written messages (Gernsbacher, 2014). As Britt, Rouet and Durik (2018) put it: "[I]n post-industrial societies, the uses of print are pervading people's activities throughout the lifespan, from school learning to job finding, to communicating with friends and relatives, shopping online and participating in society.…”