Innovations in computer-mediated communication:

Proposing counter-narratives to The Innovation of Loneliness

Vincent Martinez
Introduction
This paper aims to provide a brief critical analysis of the short film, The Innovation of
Loneliness, which discusses the potential social consequences of a growing dependency on social
media technologies (Cohen 2013). Three claims made by the film in particular will be the main focus
of my paper, as I believe that they are at the core of the film's resonance with its audience: that
communication technologies are facilitating a movement towards individuality that is inhibiting
peoples' ability to establish meaningful connections; its, mostly implicit, adoption of a preconceived
notion that there is a homogenized West that this individualization process seems to be targeting; and
its statement that individuals are sacrificing conversation for mere connection, connection, here,
represented as a superficial and two-dimensional type of exchange that arises from the use of texting,
e-mail, (and) posting and the ability to self-edit when using them (Cohen 2013).
I will also supplement my argument with qualitative data gathered from interviews with six
university students who possess an assortment of Spanish speaking backgrounds. These interviews will
help in constructing a counter-narrative to the one suggested in The Innovation of Loneliness by
pressing the limits of this notion of Westerness while also providing examples of linguistic practices
unique to multilingual speakers that can also occur in digital contexts, supporting my argument that
computer-mediated communication should not be put off as non-conversational and that it combines
qualities... associated with face-to-face interactions... with properties of written language
(Georgakopoulou 2011:94).

Why Look at this Film?

I have two reasons for looking specifically at the short film, The Innovation of Loneliness, and
not the academic work that the film pulls most of its material fromwhich, frankly, has already faced
criticism from anthropologists as sensationalist and overtly nostalgic ( Miller & Hurst 2012 on Turkle
2011). Firstly, it is brief. Over the span of 4 minutes and 28 seconds, the film covers a swath of
material that is relevant to many of the social sciences. Secondly, and likely owing to the first point,
the film went viral. Since its release in 2013, the video has accumulated 6.7 million plays on
vimeo.com, where it has been selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick (vimeo.com 2014). The video has
nearly 2.5 million views since the same time on YouTube.com (YouTube.com 2014). The virility of the
film suggests that it managed to achieve a certain degree of resonance with its audience, a notion also
supported by the numerous user-made comments on the film expressing agreement with the ideas
mentioned in it (YouTube.com 2014). In the end, these factors come together to provide a condensed
medium to discuss a number of emergent popularized and relevant topics in communication and
linguistic studies.
Anthropological research on the subject also provides us with an alternate outlook on the issue
of CMC and digital studies in general. In the introduction of their book, Digital Anthropology, Miller
and Horst remark:
Our final principle (regarding the key questions proposed by Digital Anthropology as a
subdiscipline) acknowledges the materiality of digital worlds, which are neither more nor
less material than the worlds that precede them. Material culture approaches have shown
how materiality is also the mechanism behind our final observation, which is also our
primary justification for an anthropological approach. This concerns humanity's
remarkable capacity to reimpose normativity just as quickly as digital technologies create
conditions for change. We shall argue that it is this drive to the normative that makes
attempts to understand the impact of the digital in the absence of anthropology unviable.

Terminology and a Review of the Literature

It may be helpful to begin by identifying and defining some of the terms I will be using
throughout the paper. Computer-mediated communication, or CMC, is a category of communicative
practices that, as a term, has caught on in many academic fields (Georgakopoulou 2011). While many
of the articles I cite do not present any explicit definition for CMC, I will specify what I aim to address
when I use the term, as not everyone will necessarily share the same idea of what a computer is. This
paper specifically focuses on text-based CMC, which comes to include all forms of text-based
communication that occurs over a digital device, usually a computer or cell phone. Texts, e-mails,
Internet relay chat (IRC) messages, public posts on social media sites or forumsall of these are
forms of CMC that I will be referring to in my paper.
Another distinction I should make is between the two categories of mediated communication:
synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous communication requires that all participants
acknowledge that the other participants are available and ready for the conversation to take place
(Broadbent 2012: 138). The most apparent examples of synchronous CMC would be phone or video
calls and instant messaging (IM).
As one would expect, asynchronous communication is the counter to thisreadiness for
conversation is never negotiated between participants (Broadbent 2012:138). Thus, arbitrary spans of
time are present between exchanges and these types of conversations are not necessarily happening in
real time. A classic example of asynchronous communication would be the exchanging of letters
through postal systemsan analog of this in CMC being the exchange of e-mails or text messages.
Another asynchronous form of CMC would be a public post, which can be made on a digital forum,
such as reddit, 4chan, or one of the countless topical forum websites that exist; or one of the many
social media platforms that The Innovation of Loneliness is referring to.
The film suggests that CMC represents a superficial channel of communication due to the fact

that we get to edit, and that means, we get to delete. Thus, instead of building true friendships,
were obsessed with endless personal promotion, investing hours on then building our profile, pursuing
the optimal order of words in our next message (Cohen 2013). While the film does specifically list
texting, e-mail, (and) posting as the main culprits in this discussion, all of which are asynchronous
forms of CMC, it does make reference to synchronous chat conversations, which it contrasts with the
deep meaning and intimicay of friendship (Cohen 2013). Having said all this, it would be beneficial
to establish a meaning to conversation and , perhaps, acknowledge alternative narratives that
discourse over CMC within certain academic fields provide.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a conversation as an informal talk involving two
people or a small group of people or something that is similar to a spoken conversation (MerriamWebster 2014). While the later part suggests that there is at least some public acknowledgment of nonoral conversational practices, it hardly provides any contextual evidence that might support CMC as
such. However, academic discourse has not completely neglected this topic and there are fields of
research ready to accept CMC as a unique form of conversation that brings with it a number of
opportunities.
Linguistic studies point to CMC as an interactive written discourse or written speech that
navigates the boundaries of what is considered spoken and written language (Georgakopoulou 2011:94,
96). Even text-based mediums that are typically considered asynchronous, such as e-mails or texts,
exhibit elements of spontaneity and reduced planning... more prototypical of spoken rather than
written genres (94). A study conducted on linguistic practices in Swiss-German Internet Relay Chat
(IRC) rooms highlights the contrast between formal academic writing that is almost exclusively in
Standard German with the informal conversations littered with code-switches and dialectical writing
that take place in these digital spacescode-switching typically a practice reserved for real world
conversation but recently made more popular in written forms by advents in personal communication

technologies (Siebenhaar 2006:483).

Research in second-language acquisition suggests that users of synchronous CMC technologies
demonstrate and develop many of the same linguistic and paralinguistic features of communication that
are apparent in face-to-face interactions (Negretti 1999). Another's research in second-language
acquisition looks at MOOs (Object-Oriented Multiple-User Domains), a type of server that functions
very similarly to Google Docs or other text-based cloud storage technologies geared towards sharing
and social exchange. The article demonstrates the unique qualities that, when equipped for bilingual
encounters, allow MOOs to effectively facilitate cooperative tandem learning experiences (Ktter
2003). Lastly, there is an article that looks at the presence and benefits of repair negotiations
between non-native English speakers in conversational online chat rooms (Jepson 2005). Non-native
speakers modify their language output lexically, syntactically, and phonologically in order to make
their message clearer (Jepson 2005:79,80), a process that can increase the potential for accuracy and
comprehensible input. This instrumental approach to the process of self-editing in CMC works to
contrast the negative qualities the film associates it with.

A Qualitative Look at CMC in the Lives of Bilingual Spanish Speaking University Students
The next section of this paper covers the the qualitative research I conducted to supplement my
arguments. The research material is comprised of notes taken from six interviews with six bilingual
Spanish speaking university students. In choosing multilingual individuals, I hope to challenge the
application of this catch-all term, Western, that serves as a pretext to these processes of
individualization mentioned in the film. Of course, this isn't to say that monolingual English speakers
would not possess their own unique narratives that would work to support my arguments as well; my
choice mostly stems from a premonition that selecting individuals from a demarcated linguistic
category may, with a smaller sample size, provide a set of personal narratives that includes immigrant

and expatriate experiences. Bilingual individuals also demonstrate certain linguistic practices, namely
code-switching and an awareness of dialectical differences, that might be easier to identify and
highlight with the limited toolkit I would be using to assess any examples or transcripts my
interviewees might provide for me.
The interviews themselves were conducted over a week's span and lasted between 45 and 90
minutes. The questions I would ask were direct and demanded simple responses, while at the same
time opening up opportunities for conversational dialogue. I would begin by gathering information on
the interviewee's and interviewee's family's linguistic backgrounds, determining the levels of fluency of
individuals in their family. I would then ask them to identify friends or acquaintances that they
maintain regular contact with through CMC, also inquiring about their linguistic backgrounds as well.
After determining who the interviewees would maintain meaningful contact with, I would ascertain the
channels of CMC that they would utilize to facilitate these conversations (if any). Lastly, I would ask
about their experiences with the use of code-switching in CMC and their encounters with different or
unfamiliar dialects of Spanish (or Spanglish).
As expected, the interviews uncovered a diverse array of personal narratives that demonstrated
differing relationships with CMC technologies. The majority of the interviewees were born and raised
in Texas while two are international students, one hailing from Mexico, the other Venezuela. Five of
the interviewees stated that they grew up speaking Spanish. Four of these five grew up learning
English alongside Spanish while one says that he did not begin learning English until much later. The
remaining one stated that, while she was around Spanish throughout her life, she grew up speaking
English and did not begin learning Spanish until her later years.
Erica, the student who learned Spanish at a later age, would categorize her linguistic prowess in
Spanish as semi-fluent and weaker than that of both her bilingual parents. This sentiment is shared
by Diana, one of the other students who grew up speaking Spanishher relationship with it best

described as only when necessary. When asked about their experiences with CMC, they both
mentioned their extensive use of Spanglish when texting and using Instant Messaging (IM) platforms
such as Facebook Chat. The Spanglish they described was a frequent use of intrasentential codeswitches employed when they, as Diana puts it, only know the word in one language or the other.
Both explained this as an effort to maintain a natural conversational flow as taking the time to look up
words in a dictionary or online would break cadence. While this may not represent an idealized form
of code-switchingsince it is (usually) a very conscious effort made by the speakerit serves as an
interesting counter-example to the notions presented by the film. Rather than being preoccupied with
pursuing the optimal order of words for the sake of personal promotion (Cohen 2013), the
optimization process Diana and Erica are employing is intended to facilitate a smoother and more, in
Erica's words, real-time conversation.
The remaining four interviewees commented less on their own use of Spanglish and codeswitching in CMC and more on their encounters with others who participate in this linguistic practice.
The international student from Venezuela, Daniela, contrasts her experience here in a border state
with that of her home country. While she grew up learning both English and Spanish, it was highly
uncommon to use the two as interchangeably as it occurs here. Aside from accidentally respond(ing)
to someone in the wrong language, Daniela does not admit to code-switching very much herself.
However, she acknowledges Spanglish as its own dialect and is intrigued by it despite it being
stigmatized in other Spanish speaking countries as an anglicized form of Spanish.
This complacency with the use of Spanglish and code-switching was not shared by all the
interviewees. In his interview, Luis, the student who grew up speaking Spanish but did not begin
learning English until his middle-school years, described his upbringing by conservative Mexican
parents that made sure he understood that English and Spanish are two separate languages. As he
puts it: I grew up essentially learning.. and explicitly, 'Do not speak Spanglish!' Ever since, it's been

sort of a pet peeve of mine when other people do it. In his eyes, this had less to do with anglicization
or a sense of nationalist pride, but more that Spanglish users are being lazy since they are knowingly
allowing room for miscommunication and breakdowns in conversation to take place. As Erica and
Diana utilized intra-sentential code-switching in CMC to maintain conversational flow, Luis opts out of
such practices for just the same reason.
It is interesting to note that this conversation over linguistic ideologies about Spanish dialects
arose from a discussion of CMC considering these discussions most often (implicitly) revolve around
verbal speech practices (Bedolla 2003). We can see that the informal nature of many CMC channels
allows for certain linguistic practices traditionally reserved for verbal, real-world circumstances to
circulate and become topics of discussion (Siebenhaar 2006).
In Conclusion
In this paper, I attempted to challenge the popularized claims made by the film, The Innovation
of Loneliness, by looking at the stances taken, whether explicitly or not, by researchers in the academic
sphere and proposing personal narratives derived from interviews with six university students as
counters to those proposed by the film. I have shown that linguistic academics acknowledge CMC as a
form of written speech that teeters between the worlds of verbal and written language
(Georgakopoulou 2011), while second-language acquisition studies suggest CMC may be a useful tool
in the development of conversational skills among students (Negretti 1999; Ktter 2003; Jepson 2005).
The interviews reveal an overt awareness among Spanish/English bilinguals in maintaining
conversational flow in CMC. This contrasts the notion proposed by the film that suggests CMC is
promoting a less conversation-like and more superficial form of communication for the sake of mere
connection and personal promotion (Cohen 2013).

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