Table 1.

The potential positive and negative impacts of each CMC feature on online activities.

CMC Features	Potential Positive Impacts	Potential Negative Impacts
Connectivity	Transcend traditional time and space limitation, provide easy access to online information [25,26]	Increased workload for doctors [18] Information overloading [27] Conflicting information [14]
Text-based communication	Easy documentation and clear description of symptoms and instructions [23]	Higher-level cognitive effort compared to audio and visual communication [28] Lack of intimacy and weak at relationship development [20,29]
Asynchronism	Transcend traditional time and space limitation [25] Less interrupting [18] Flexible thinking time [30]	Hard to ensure timely response [31] Cause misunderstanding
Anonymity	Encourage expression [32,33]	Easy engender negative emotion and misconduct online [34]