Social Anxiety and Online Media Choice: Visual Anonymity as a Key

The study aims to examine how social anxiety moderates the effect of media selection during initial online interactions for making new friends. The study recruited 147 individuals with high levels and another 147 individuals with low levels of social anxiety who measured their intention to use various types of media to meet new friends online. The results demonstrated that individuals with high (low) social anxiety tended to choose visually (non-visually) anonymous media for initial interactions. Interestingly, once engaged in visually anonymous media, individuals with high social anxiety experienced reduced discomfort, following the expected pattern of media richness theory (MRT) by gradually adopting richer media for improved communication. The findings hold valuable implications for MRT and offer practical insights for media designers.