The internet and the mobile phone have disrupted many of our
conventional understandings of ourselves and our relationships, raising
anxieties and hopes about their effects on our lives. In this second
edition of her timely and vibrant book, Nancy Baym provides frameworks
for thinking critically about the roles of digital media in personal
relationships. Rather than providing exuberant accounts or cautionary
tales, it offers a data-grounded primer on how to make sense of these
important changes in relational life
Fully updated to reflect new developments in technology and digital
scholarship, the book identifies the core relational issues these media
disturb and shows how our talk about them echoes historical discussions
about earlier communication technologies. Chapters explore how we use
mediated language and nonverbal behavior to develop and maintain
communities, social networks, and new relationships, and to maintain
existing relationships in our everyday lives. The book combines research
findings with lively examples to address questions such as: Can mediated
interaction be warm and personal? Are people honest about themselves
online? Can relationships that start online work? Do digital media
damage the other relationships in our lives? Throughout, the book argues
that these questions must be answered with firm understandings of media
qualities and the social and personal contexts in which they are
developed and used.
This new edition of Personal Connections in the Digital Age will be
required reading for all students and scholars of media, communication
studies, and sociology, as well as all those who want a richer
understanding of digital media and everyday life.
