This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by KAZMER, M. M. Articles by HAYTHORNTHWAITE, C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Juggling Multiple Social Worlds

Distance Students Online and Offline

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

CAROLINE HAYTHORNTHWAITE

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Using the Internet means bringing into our offline lives yet another social world, one in which we operate through media, communicating and maintaining ties with people who live at a distance and who we may rarely or never meet. How successfully do we manage integration of this new world into our existing world? Do worlds collide or seamlessly integrate into a cohesive whole? For 1 year, the authors followed 17 students as they engaged in a distance learning program. The authors explored their involvement with the online learning community and how this affected their relationships with family, work, volunteer, and peer groups. Students' satisfaction with the program increased, and anxiety about operating in the online world decreased, with increased involvement with the learning community. This was realized at the expense of offline communities and activities. However, the authors also found a reverse trend when students reengaged with offline life as they neared the end of their program. This work highlights the importance of temporal aspects of involvement in online worlds and provides some insight into the priorities, needs, and rewards involved with managing multiple worlds.

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 45, No. 3, 510-529 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/00027640121957196


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. M. Kazmer Beyond C U L8R: disengaging from online social worlds New Media Society, February 1, 2007; 9(1): 111 - 138. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Bregman and C. Haythornthwaite Radicals of presentation: visibility, relation, and co-presence in persistent conversation New Media Society, March 1, 2003; 5(1): 117 - 140. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. HAYTHORNTHWAITE Introduction: The Internet in Everyday Life American Behavioral Scientist, November 1, 2001; 45(3): 363 - 382. [Abstract] [PDF]