The Influence of New Communication Technologies on Undergraduate Preferences for Social Capital Formation, Maintenance, and Expenditure

Abstract

This article reports on a survey measuring how university students communicate with various audiences and found that the use of technology centers on social (rather than work or task) functions. Results suggest that social capital involves a choice among various communication technologies. The preference for and attachment to cell phones, instant messaging, and e-mail and the willingness to use technology as a part of an approach to engaging in social capital formation, maintenance, and use marks college age individuals as unique. Results also suggest a collision of sorts in which individuals with very diverse approaches to social capital must find ways to come together, to adapt, and to cooperate to produce the very outcomes that many social capital theorists have lamented the loss of.