Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 12:37:49 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: love bytes
The phenomenon of romance-by-Internet is now very well known and, I presume
and hope, well studied, since it seems to me rich with potential for
understanding the medium. One such study, "Love at First Byte", has recently
been published in the alumni magazine for my alma mater, Reed College,
and is available online at
<http://web.reed.edu/community/newsandpub/nov1998/byte/>.
The article, by Susan G. Hauser, reports on research by psychiatrist Esther
Gwinnell, who has written a book on the subject, <title>Online Seductions:
Falling in Love with Strangers on the Internet</title> (Kodansha
International). See her Web site, <http://www.nocouch.com/>, which provides
a summary introduction to the topic.
Gwinnell uses e-mail in her psychiatric practice. "She also recommends email
interaction to married couples whose communication skills have broken down.
If one spouse needs to travel, she or he should keep in touch via the
internet. It is as good as writing in a journal for expressing personal
feelings, but those feelings can be shared with little or none of the
anxiety associated with face-to-face communication."
Gwinnell seems to be thinking about a possible sequel, so if you have a
story to tell....
Yours,
WM
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Willard McCarty, Senior Lecturer, King's College London
voice: +44 (0)171 873 2784 fax: +44 (0)171 873 5801
<Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk> <http://ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/>
maui gratia
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