Love on the internet

Lisa’s analysis of Cornwell and Lundgren’s 2001 paper ‘Love on the Internet’ (http://misrepresentationinchatrooms.blogspot.com/) similarly follows on from my look at online deception. Lisa makes a number of interesting points but similarly makes a number of interesting assumptions about the nature of online communication and identity formation.

Anonymity, for Lisa, is an assumed starting point in chat rooms. Anonymity is the state of being nameless; online, especially in chat rooms, individuals create names for themselves, they may be different from those they use offline, but they are certainly not nameless. I think that use of the term ‘anonymity’ in relation to online behaviour is the closest thing we have but should probably be rethought.

Lisa’s other big assumption is that deception online is rife, and that we should not be surprised at the findings of Cornwell and Lundgren. This assumption reinforces the findings of Caspi and Gorsky (2006) in fact; users expect more online deception than is actually occurring. Also, the privileging of online deception above and beyond offline deception is, I think, always interesting. Why is lying about your job online more serious than offline, we wear makeup, we shape the stories about ourselves and we lie, both online and off. As Jordan (2005, mentioned in my previous post) says “The Internet did not create grifters… If anything, the Net has just changed the dynamics of the game” (Jordan, 2005:200). The internet did not inspire lies, it just changed the medium in which we lie.


Caspi, A. and P. Gorsky (2006) 'Online Deception: Prevalence, Motivation, and Emotion' in CyberPsychology & Behaviour 9(1)

Cornwell, B. and D.C. Lundgren (2001) ‘Love on the Internet: involvement and misrepresentation in romantic relationships in cyberspace vs. real space’ Computers in Human Behaviour 17(2)

Jordan, J.W. (2005) ‘A Virtual Death and a Real Dilemma: Identity, Trust and Community in Cyberspace’,
Southern Communication Journal 70(3)