Role of Perceived Anonymity and Distance of Computer-Mediated Communication on Social Inhibitions among Youths
The study examined the role perceived anonymity and distance of computer mediated communication on social inhibition among youths. A total of 200 students (males = 84; female = 116) of Psychology Department with mean age 25years participated in the sudy. It was hypothesized that perceived anonymity will not significantly influence social inhibition among youths and computer mediated communication will not significantly influence social inhibition among youths. Perceived Anonymity Scale, Computer Mediated Communication Competence Scale and Behavioural Avoidance/Inhibition (BAS/BIS) were used to elicit responses from the participants. Linear regression was used to analyze the data. The result revealed that perceived anonymity did not significantly predict social inhibition which confirmed the first hypothesis but computer mediated communication negatively predicted social inhibition (F1,192 =12.15, p=.001) Implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies were highlighted.