The Communication Of Cyberspace Essay, Research Paper

Micheal Mariott states in an Article in the New York Times, “Of the 107 million people using the Internet worldwide, it is estimated that 40 to 50 million of them are using chat in

some form” (40). Today millions of people use the internet chat services, but few people realize the structure of the language and how it is similar to the patterns of other forms of communication. First, I will discuss how and why the sentence structure of online communication is changed radically from that of normal speech and writing. Secondly, I will illustrate how emotions are expressed while we are engaged in online communication, with all of the barriers that face us. Next, I will explain the differences of how men and women talk over the internet. Lastly, I will discuss gender roles and how they are seen in chat rooms.

The first and most notable difference in online communication and face to face communication is the vast difference in sentence structure. While people talk face to face they generally use complete sentences and correct punctuation, heard in the pauses and tone variations of speech. Communication in chat rooms is greatly different. The sentences are rarely complete, very few people use correct, if any, punctuation. Here is an example of poor grammar and punctuation from on of the thousands of chat rooms on IRC, Internet Relay Chat, “Ms_grace:[her nick] looking forward for that PAN AM game”. The question mark is the most frequently used because it can be difficult to distinguish between a question and a statement without the help of syllable emphasis. These changes in communication styles have several reasons and purposes. The first reason is that using conventional sentence structure would require a too much time to type and correct if need be, to maintain a steady conversation. Very few people have high enough typing skills to keep a conversation flowing in a chat room while using correct grammar and punctuation. The main purpose of modifying the original language was to speed up the rate of conversations. The second reason is that online communication is very impersonal. Nobody knows with whom they are really communicating. Even if they have talked to that person online before there is still a great deal that is unknown about that individual such as height, bodily figure, weight, facial features. Another way that language was modified was by expressing emotions through short, concise phrases.

The methods used to show emotion through electronic communication and face to face communication are greatly different forms. Emotion is easily seen in our facial expressions, bodily movements, and tone and rate that are usually indicators of the person’s true feelings. Of course, we cannot, for the most part, convey feelings this way while we are talking in chat rooms. I say for the most part because we can simply put the statement in caps lock to express that we are yelling at someone, or people often write “hahaha” to show that they are laughing. For the most part feelings are expressed in symbols. A few examples of this are if someone is happy about something they type “:-)” or “:}”. I have noticed that the women are much more likely to use the “:-)” symbol than are men. Its purpose is to come across as being cute. One woman I saw used after nearly every message she posted. On the other hand if someone is sad or unhappy about something they will type “:(” or :[. If a person is very sad they will type ": (" to show that they are crying. People often abbreviate things to show that they have found something funny. The most popular example of this is "lol" or laugh out loud. Writing "j/k" signifies that the person was making a joke and translates as just kidding.

The way that men and women communicate on the internet is strikingly different. The communication patterns of normal day conversation is often seen in the chat rooms as well. The first and most easily noted difference is the amount of messages posted by men and women. Men tend to post messages many more often than do women. Nathan Cobb states in his article, Gender Wars in Cyberspace, "research shows that women who go online tend to send fewer messages per capita than do men"(461). "Lurkers" are people who join a chat room but say very little or nothing at all. Cobb also states, "There is a widespread belief that more women than men are "lurkers"(461). I noticed that men sent at least 75 percent of all of the messages, I did not count non-gender specific names such as ''esEAT_: or my'hellle only names like Jared420 or bunnie that are most likely male or female. It is nearly impossible to count "lurkers" because it is not possible to be sure if the person is talking in another room and ignoring that one, is away from their computer, or is truly lurking in on the conversations. Another difference between men and women's communication is the name by which they choose to call themselves. Women often refer to themselves as small cute animals, bunnie or fawn while men refer to themselves as buck10 or deathdog. The name often reflects dominance or submissiveness. The names often correlate with the style of communication that men and women use.

Gender roles are seen everywhere in life and the internet chat rooms are no exception. Names like buck10 and deathdog convey signs of powerful, strong, dominant animals. The people they represent often converse in the same manner. Men are much more likely to use sleazy, intrusive language. For example, I watched one room for nearly two hours and no one was talking about lewd subjects. One guy came on and said this within the first minute of his presence, "mom4daugh[his nick]: any real horny mom loving women here?” The channel operator promptly kicked him off. Gary Goshgarian states in his prelude to Cobb’s article, “insulting and aggression on the part of males and conciliation and passivity on the part of females” (458). This is evident in nearly every type of communication; males take on a dominant role while female take the role of the subordinate. Deborah Tannen states in her article, “I’ll Explain it to you”: Lecturing and Listening, “But when I announce my work to men, many give me a lecture on language” (445). The men presume that they are more knowledgeable on the subject before the conversation even begins. This type of occurrence is still prone to happen even when it is evident beforehand that the woman has a greater knowledge of the subject at hand.

To sum things up, the language we use on the internet is very different from that of spoken or written communication. It has been transformed so it keeps up with the speed of the technology, creating faster and faster means communicating. The language has also been adapted to convey emotions and feelings. As with other forms of communication, sexism is still very prevalent in online communications. It is seen in gender roles played out by certain individuals even in chat rooms.