ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how people deal with awkwardness, focusing on strategies used to restore order in interactions that go awry. The data reveal two main strategies for dealing with awkwardness: avoiding and directing. First, avoiding means not confronting an awkward interaction in the past, present, or future. Awkwardness can be avoided directly by physically or virtually exiting an interaction, such as through ghosting. It can also be avoided indirectly, mainly by using small talk to keep interactions flowing and find common ground for more meaningful exchanges. While avoiding awkwardness reduces the need for emotional work in the short term, this strategy may backfire in future encounters with those avoided. Second, directing refers to directly and immediately addressing an awkward interaction. This approach includes several strategies: (1) creating distance as a way to make one less self-conscious, (2) communicating directly and honestly to reduce uncertainty over what others expect, and (3) embracing awkwardness through humor to alleviate discomfort by re-establishing a shared definition of the situation. Finally, this chapter discusses why individuals choose one strategy over another and how they learn these strategies, whether directed toward others, the self, the medium, or culture.
