Summary Social Media: The Impact It Has on Social Penetration Theory Arizona State University

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 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 penetration tends to begin with access to personal information, then falls to opinion, then expectations and attitudes. Once the cost and reward assessments support further penetration, individuals then access the focus of the personality structure and share values, feelings, and needs. According to Tang and Wang (2012), past research has emphasized that the internet has created a high level of self-disclosure concerning online interpersonal relationships. However, their findings happened to challenge these ideas by discovering that bloggers are more willing to disclose to their real-life best friends widely and deeply, rather than doing it on their blog. This study argues that the internet does not have a large effect on self-disclosure, despite what previous studies claim. Recent studies also suggest that individuals tend to assess the number of Facebook Likes and Reactions received on a post as a measurement for self-presentational success (Carr et al., 2018). Because of this, people are more invested in what they say or do online and try to become friends with as many people as they can through the internet. As social media grows more, so will one’s desire to feel successful online. Because social media challenges the way people can self-disclose, internet users can build intimate relationships with their followers almost instantly, creating a path to get more Likes and Reactions. People have also started using the internet to meet potential dating partners, presenting these individuals with new challenges for self- disclosure and self-presentation behaviors. These strategies differ a lot from the strategies employed in traditional face-to-face meetings, which do not typically provide the same opportunities for calculated self-presentation (Gibbs et al., 2006). Members of these online dating websites can self-disclose with each other before even meeting face-to-face, challenging the way that we view social penetration theory in the digital age. Synthesis of Scholarship Social media has become an essential part of life for most modern communities. With the ability to post anything at any time, the opportunities for self-disclosure between two strangers is endless. There are many benefits of online self-disclosure, such as becoming close friends with others before even meeting face-to-face, but there are also consequences that go along with online self-disclosure as well.