Summary Social Media: The Impact It Has on Social Penetration Theory Arizona State University
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Social Media: The Impact It Has on Social Penetration Theory
Arizona State University
Social Media: The Impact It Has on Social Penetration Theory
Social media has become a modern “necessity” in today’s day and age, and many would agree that it has changed the ways in which we commu...
social media the impact it has on social penetration theory arizona state university social media the impact it has on social penetration theory social media has become a modern “necessity” in t
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SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY AND SOCIAL MEDIA 1
Social Media: The Impact It Has on Social Penetration Theory
Arizona State University
, SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY AND SOCIAL MEDIA 2
Social Media: The Impact It Has on Social Penetration Theory
Social media has become a modern “necessity” in today’s day and age, and many would
agree that it has changed the ways in which we communicate with people. Since Altman and
Taylor’s social penetration theory (SPT) was first introduced in 1973, the world quickly evolved
into a digital age, challenging Altman and Taylor’s original theory and letting us skip the non-
intimate stage in relationships altogether. While some would consider this to be a negative
consequence, this can also be considered a benefit as well. Regardless of what people think of
social media, it still has a major impact on the way people communicate in the current world, and
will always challenge theories like SPT.
The following essay analyzes current research on the effects that social media has on our
self-disclosure with each other through the internet. It begins with a summary of Altman and
Taylor’s social penetration theory to investigate the role that social media has on self-disclosure.
The essay then compares how individuals self-disclose on the internet versus in person. The
essay concludes by arguing that people are more likely to self-disclose more quickly when they
are on social media rather than face-to-face, and challenges social penetration theory by skipping
the phase of non-intimate conversations completely.
Theoretical Approaches to Self-Disclosure Online
In 1973, Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor introduced the social penetration theory (SPT),
which proposed that as relationships develop interpersonal communication moves from non-
intimate levels to deeper and much more intimate ones. It is a very conducive theory that is used
to understand relationship development between individuals. According to Pan and Lieber
(2008), “Altman and Taylor reasoned that the establishment of close relationships is a gradual
process from nonintimate contact in the rim to cores of personality structure” (p. 33). Social
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