L. Mark Carrier

The Relationship Between “Textisms” and Formal and Informal Writing Among Young Adults

The Net Generation has adopted textisms as shortcuts in electronic communication. Two studies investigated whether the reported use of textisms in daily electronic communication is related to the quality of writing. Seven hundred and eighteen young adults were queried about how often they used linguistic and contextual textisms, instant messaging, monthly cell minutes, and monthly text messaging. In Study 1 they wrote a formal letter to a company and in Study 2 they were asked to write both a formal letter and provide an informal writing sample on happiness. Textism use was quite low, a finding that was consistent with previous research on texting and instant messaging. The data reflected negative associations between reported textism use in daily communications and formal writing and positive associations between textisms use and informal writing. These relationships varied by gender and level of education, varying most strongly among those without a college education. The results are discussed in terms of Low-Road/ High-Road Transfer of Situated Learning Theory.

Virtual empathy

We tested if going online displaces face-to-face time and negatively impacts empathy.Internet usage, face-to-face time, and empathy were measured in 1390 young adults.Going online had little impact upon empathy and improved face-to-face time.Video gaming reduced empathy in both sexes but did not reduce face-to-face time.Virtual empathy was positively correlated with, but lower than, real-world empathy. People can show empathic responses to others online, but at the same time empathy has been declining in young people since technology-based communication has become prevalent. Displacement of face-to-face time by online activities would be expected to negatively impact empathic skills. Since there is little direct empirical research on this topic, the present study sought to determine the nature of the relationship between Internet usage and empathy. More than 1000 young adults completed an anonymous online questionnaire that asked about daily media usage, real-world empathy, virtual empathy, social support and demographic information. The results showed that, in general, going online had very small negative impacts upon cognitive and affective real-world empathy and actually improved time spent in face-to-face communication. Video gaming reduced real-world empathy in both females and males but did not reduce face-to-face time. Also, virtual empathy was positively correlated with real-world empathy, although virtual empathy scores were lower than real-world empathy scores for both sexes. Finally, both real-world empathy and virtual empathy are positively related to social support but real-world empathy demonstrated a 5-6 times stronger relationship. The findings show that spending time online does not displace face-to-face time nor reduce real-world empathy, and suggest that perhaps the lack of nonverbal cues in the online world contributes to overall lower levels of virtual empathy compared to the real world. The negative effects of being online upon empathy appear to be due to specific activities such as video gaming rather than total quantity of online time.

The Effect of Bilingualism on Communication Efficiency in Text Messages (SMS).

Abstract The widespread use of cell phones has led to the proliferation of messages sent using the Short Messaging Service (SMS). The 160-character limit on text messages encourages the use of shortenings and other shortcuts in language use. When bilingual speakers use SMS, their access to multiple sources of vocabulary, sentence structure, and other language devices would appear to provide additional resources for addressing the character limits imposed on SMS, perhaps by increasing the available pool of short phrases and words. In two studies, the benefits of having multiple languages to draw on during text messaging was evaluated. Study 1 was an archival study in which a corpus of text messages from English–Spanish speakers was analyzed for message length. The results showed that individual messages involving code switching were longer than messages written in only one language. Study 2 was an experimental study in which English–Spanish speakers and English-only speakers played a texting game devised to encourage efficiency in SMS communication. The results from the game revealed that messages from English–Spanish players were no shorter than messages from English-only players. Overall, the data from the two studies provide no evidence that bilingual users of SMS draw upon their multiple languages to increase communication efficiency. Language switching during SMS does not appear to be a means of dealing with character limits.

#Connected: Facebook May Facilitate Face-to-Face Relationships for Introverts.

Many fear that social networking sites (SNSs) are disconnecting people from meaningful face-to-face relationships. Nevertheless, previous research suggests that SNS use is related to increased face-to-face communication. The present study was conducted to determine whether personality traits and attachment styles moderate this relationship. Students (n = 855) completed an online survey that included measures of Facebook use, time spent engaging in face-to-face communication, personality traits, and attachment styles. The results revealed that Facebook use was associated with increased face-to-face communication and that this relationship was moderated by extraversion. Specifically, the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face communication was significant for individuals with low to moderate levels of extraversion (i.e., introverts) only. As extraversion increased, the magnitude of the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face time decreased. No other personality traits or attachment styles significantly moderated the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face communication. Facebook (and potentially SNSs more generally) may be especially beneficial for introverts by allowing them to build trust and rapport in a less threatening social environment that, in turn, makes them more comfortable engaging in face-to-face communication. However, research is needed to understand the direction and mechanisms underlying this relationship. Nevertheless, the present study provides novel insights into the beneficial role that Facebook may play in connecting people in the real world.