16.1

Face to Face communication varies greatly than computer mediated communication. To me the biggest difference between CMC and FTF communication would be the nonverbal communication. When you're discussing something or solving problems through CMC pretty much the only way for you to tell if someone is happy, angry, laughing, or sad would be LOL, :) or :(, whereas with FTF communication you can see if someone is visibly uncomfortable, being sarcastic, or really excited. Typed words only offer so much variation to a situation where when you are face to face with someone there is so much more to interpret. This could be both a blessing and a curse; while there might be less distraction (laughing, or joking around, or even arguing) there would be less interpersonal interaction. Personally, just simply for the fact that I'm a social butterfly, I much prefer face to face communication. I like being able to read people rather than having to rely on the next text message or tweet.