About this Research Topic
The rapid evolution of internet technologies, and increase in internet access, has seen the ways in which individuals communicate in an online environment change at a pace with which research struggles to keep up. Early theories of online communication were based either on offline communication or on text-only communication (e.g., the hyperpersonal model). The increase in the number and diversity of social media and messaging platforms, and the communication tools they afford users, mean we no longer communicate using only text, but with supplemental emojis and gifs, and via pictures and video. This means that some of the assumptions of the online environment (e.g., its impoverished nature, asynchronicity of communication) may no longer impact online communication to the extent they once did, which could have emerging implications for the use and abuse of digital communication.
Technology and means of digital communication are developing at a more a rapid pace than researchers can understand their true function and effect on users. It is timely that we focus our investigative efforts on understanding how new technologies are being used by individuals and groups communicating in the digital world, the impact they are having on them, and how theories of online communication must evolve to incorporate these new developments. This research topic aims to expand knowledge of how developing technologies are employed by individuals to communicate in different ways. We are interested in both how online communication can be positively utilized to nurture relationships (romantic, friendship, professional) as well as how it can be abused to cause harm (e.g., cyberbullying, cyberstalking). Specifically, the focus is on how different modalities of online communication (e.g., text, image, video) be employed or exploited in ways that have not previously been investigated.
We invite submissions which span a range of themes including (but not limited to):
• Online text communication
• Online video communication
• Social media use
• Technology use during the Covid 19 pandemic
• Online communication in relationships
• Sexting
• Cyberbullying
• Cyberstalking
Technology and means of digital communication are developing at a more a rapid pace than researchers can understand their true function and effect on users. It is timely that we focus our investigative efforts on understanding how new technologies are being used by individuals and groups communicating in the digital world, the impact they are having on them, and how theories of online communication must evolve to incorporate these new developments. This research topic aims to expand knowledge of how developing technologies are employed by individuals to communicate in different ways. We are interested in both how online communication can be positively utilized to nurture relationships (romantic, friendship, professional) as well as how it can be abused to cause harm (e.g., cyberbullying, cyberstalking). Specifically, the focus is on how different modalities of online communication (e.g., text, image, video) be employed or exploited in ways that have not previously been investigated.
We invite submissions which span a range of themes including (but not limited to):
• Online text communication
• Online video communication
• Social media use
• Technology use during the Covid 19 pandemic
• Online communication in relationships
• Sexting
• Cyberbullying
• Cyberstalking
Keywords: Online communication, interpersonal interactions, text, video, social media
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
