Competence, Presence, Trust, and Hyperpersonal-ness: Dissolving the Boundary between Digital and Physical Life

As the U.S. population grows increasingly withdrawn and less trusting, this book considers the importance of communication technology that allows users to become socially competent in ways that transcend digital and physical modes of communication. Framing computer-based settings as realistic and intimate allows us to convert networked social capabilities into interpersonal competence, Bouchillon argues, and ultimately leads to a higher level of trust. Bouchillon posits that this is a way to encourage diverse social contact locally, using technology to facilitate social learning—for example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, socially distanced individuals worked harder at using technology to replicate their interpersonal lives, leading to increased feelings of capability and trust that benefit both competence and social capital. Scholars of media studies, digital media, and communication will find this book particularly useful.