When it comes to texting or calling, new research has found that calls undoubtedly win when your goal is to connect with someone in a meaningful way.
A new study from the University of Texas at Austin suggests that too often people choose to email or text when a phone call is more likely to create the feeling of connection they crave .
People often mistakenly believe that using the phone is awkward
The Mew study was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. It turns out that people generally chose text because they felt a phone call would be more awkward.
But they were wrong, according to Amit Kumar, co-author of the study.
“People feel significantly more connected through voice-based media, but they have this fear of awkwardness that drives them towards text-based media,” he said.
Texting vs. calling : make that call
In one experiment, researchers asked 200 people to predict what it would be like to reconnect with an old friend.
The options were via text-based communication or telephone. Then they randomly assigned those participants to actually connect.
Participants knew that calling would actually make them feel more connected.
Nonetheless, they said they preferred the text-based method because they expected calls to be too cumbersome.
But the call went much better than email, she found study out.
“When it came to actual experiences, people reported that they bonded with their old friend a lot more over the phone than they did over email, and they didn’t feel any more uncomfortable,” said Kumar.
The sound of the voice builds the bond
In another experiment, researchers randomly matched strangers to bond in one of three ways.
This included a live chat, a conversation over a video chat, or a conversation that used audio only.
Participants did not expect that the media they used would matter.
But the researchers found that when they actually interacted, people felt significantly more connected when communicating by speaking than by typing.
Again, they found that using the phone didn’t produce the expected awkwardness.
In fact, even without visual cues, the voice itself appeared to be essential to bonding, the researchers found out.
A phone call doesn’t last as long as people fear.
To dispel another myth about voice-based media, researchers timed participants’ time when they got back to an old one friend came into contact.
They found that calling took about the same amount of time as reading and replying to emails.
The researchers said the results reflect people’s beliefs about texting and calling both reveal and question.
And this comes at a time when managing relationships using technology is particularly important.
“We’re being asked to maintain physical distancing, but we still need these social ties for our well-being — even for our health,” said Kumar.
Text or call : 5 reasons why SMS is the better option
- SMS is less intrusivethan calling.
- SMS is a great way to avoid conversations Call when you’re too busy to call.
- SMS is a private way of communicating, so it’s easier without feelings about embarrassing personal matters or being judged by people nearby.
- SMS is an instant way of communicating without having to worry about what time zone your recipient might be in .
- Sending SMS is often cheap or even free (although the same can be said for calls if the caller has a generous minute plan).
SMS vs. calling: 5 reasons why calling is the better option
- If someone doesn’t answer immediately after you If When you text, it can be easy for that person to accidentally ignore your messages or leave them unanswered. Radio silence can lead to misunderstandings or hurt feelings.
- You can’t text someone who doesn’t have a cell phone (and that’s still true for about 3% of people in the United States as of April 2021).
- It can be difficult>to read tone and attitude from text messages, as SMS is not so many Deliver non-verbal information like making a phone call.
- Calling someone instead of texting them allows you to have a deeper conversationand it’s less there is a likelihood of misunderstanding.
- Calling is also better for emergencies when you don’t have time to text.
Study: “It’s surprisingly nice to hear you: Misunderstandings about the impact of communication media can lead to suboptimal decisions about how to connect with others” Authors : Amit Kumar and Nicholas EpleyPublished in: Journal of Experimental Psychology Publication date: 10. September 2020DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000962Photo by: by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels
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