Interpersonal Mediated Communication

   A notable book that bridges the gap between human and mass communication is Gumpert and Cathcart's (1986) Inter media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World. These authors describe interpersonal mediated communication as "any person-to-person interaction where a medium has been interposed to transcend the limitations of time and space". Media that support interpersonal mediated communication include telephones, letters, CB radios, e-mail, answering machines, and videocassettes.

   Additionally, Cathcart and Gumpert (1986) describe how a medium can shape an interpersonal relationship. "For example, a handwritten or typed letter can facilitate a personal relationship over distance, but the time it takes to transport the message along with the lack of immediate feedback alters the quality and quantity of information shared". Messages must be written in a language and sent to another location, which takes time. The alphabet is the primary symbol system used in letter correspondence, and feedback is slower. Letter writing is a form of interpersonal mediated communication that generally occurs between two people. There are many reasons for writing letters, including staying connected with friends and family, sharing personal experiences, applying for a job, and developing a new friend (pen pals). Many of these motivations for writing letters can be applied to e-mail correspondence.

   In addition to using media to maintain interpersonal relationships, researchers have observed that people can develop interpersonal relationships with media content and television performers. For example, in 1956 an article appeared in the Journal of Psychiatry that explored the ways in which media and media performers create the illusion of interpersonal relationships. The authors, Horton and Wohl, called this phenomenon para-social relationships. Para-social relationships are the seeming face-to-face relationships that develop between spectator and performer through radio, television, and the movies. These authors contend that there is "an implicit agreement between the performer and viewer that they will pretend the relationship is not mediated-that it will be carried on as though it were a face-to face-encounter". Thus, people can believe that they develop an interpersonal relationship with technology.

   Similarly, Meyrowitz (1985) in No Sense of Place describes television's encroachment upon physical places such as our living rooms, dens, and bedrooms. He argues that the unidirectional mass medium of television offers the illusion of face-to-face interaction with performers and political figures. As a result, television has the psychological impact of a face-to-face encounter. Meyrowitz refers to the relationship between the audience and television performer as a para-ocial interaction, because the television set is a mediated form of communication. Despite the fact television is mediated;

   ... viewers come to feel they "know" the people they "meet" on television in the same way they know their friends and associates. In fact, many viewers begin to believe that they know and understand a performer better than all the other viewers do. Paradoxically, the para-social performer is able to establish "intimacy with millions".

   Meyrowitz contends that establishing the "feeling" of having an interpersonal relationship with a television performer is making media friends. Used as a medium of communication, the computer is different from the television set. In contrast to making media friends through the unidirectional messages transmitted through television, computer networks enable people to interact with each other one-on-one or in small groups. Making media friends through a computer network is actually establishing a connection with another individual - a real person, not a performer.