How does meeting online affect meeting in person?

Studies have shown that individuals who are socially anxious prefer to communicate with others online rather than face to face. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, give them the opportunity to do just that. 

Researchers from Benedictine University at Mesa, AZ, and the Providence College in Rhode Island assessed the social anxiety levels of 26 female students aged 18-20 years. 

Participants were then told they would be memorizing the face of a fellow student to prepare for a facial recognition test. The subjects had electrodes placed on the ring and index finger of their left hand, and they were randomly assigned to one of four conditions.

The first condition - "Facebook only" - required subjects to memorize the fellow student's face from a Facebook profile page. The "face-to-face only" condition allowed participants to study the fellow student's face while in the same room.

The "face-to-face and Facebook" condition required participants to study Facebook photos followed by live exposure to the fellow student, while the last condition was the reverse of this.

Each participant was then asked to identify and circle their fellow student in four different group pictures. 

Researchers found that for socially anxious individuals, meeting a person on Facebook did not make a subsequent face-to-face meeting any easier and actually increased psychological arousal.

Last year, Medical News Today reported on a study suggesting that Facebook activity could be an indicator of mental illness, while other research suggests that Facebook use makes us miserable.

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