The Impact of Texting on Social Interaction Chelsea Lee San Jos - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Impact of Texting on Social Interaction Chelsea Lee San José State University

Introduction  Despite the ease of texting, it can interfere with the social skills needed to build relationships in the personal and corporate world.  “Teens, Cell Phones, and Texting: Text Messaging Becomes Centerpiece Communication” (Lenhart, 2010).  “Talk to Text: Changing Communication Patterns” (Pinchot, Douglas, Paullet, & Rota, 2011).

Introduction  Four Hypotheses  More comfortable texting than voicemail  Include minimal information  Higher preference for texting than voicemail  Texting is used to avoid making uncomfortable phone calls

Method  Convenience sample of 20 undergraduate college students  Participants read a short vignette  Task: Deliver message of disinterest  Two counterbalanced conditions across participants: • Text • Voicemail

Method  Given questionnaire about:  Comfort level after each condition  Amount of information included  Preference  Avoidance  Gender  Age

Results: Comfort Level Com fort Level of Text vs. Voicem ail Very Uncomfortable 4.5 4.2 4 3.5 3 2.5 2.15 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Very Text Voicemail Comfortable 1 2 Form of Com m unication

Results: Amount of Information Am ount of I nform ation Given over Text versus Voicem ail 0.36 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.33 0.32 0.31 0.3 0.3 0.29 0.28 0.27 Text 1 Voicemail 2 Form of Com m unication

Results: Preference Preference am ong Men versus W om en 60% 56% 50% Text Voicemail 40% 14 6 30% 20% 10% 10% 0% Men Women 1 2 Gender

Results: Avoidance Avoidance of Men versus W omen 50% 44% 45% 40% 35% Yes No 30% 13 6 25% 20% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Men Women 1 2 Gender

Limitations  Small Sample Size  Demand Characteristics  Reactivity  The Manipulation

Conclusions  These findings add to the growing research on the effects of texting on human behavior  Further research is needed to prevent the younger generations from the addiction to texting and its harmful effects on social interaction

References Lenhart, A. (2010). Teens, cell phones, and texting: Text messaging becomes centerpiece communication. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved from www.pewresearch.org Pinchot, J.L., Douglas, D., Paullet, K.L., & Rota, D.R. (2011). Talk to text: Changing communication patterns. Conference for Information Systems Applied Research, 4, 1-9.

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