Computer-mediated communication and self-awareness - A selective review

This article introduces concepts of self-awareness and computer-mediated communication. A number of studies that have investigated the relationship between the use of computer-mediated communication and self-awareness are reviewed to provide an overview of existing findings within this line of research. These studies provide preliminary empirical evidence that self-awareness does interact both as trait and state with different contexts of computer-mediated communication. The reviewed studies are discussed in light of contemporary media developments. On this basis theoretical directions for future research are proposed.