When fingers do the talking: a study of text messaging

Abstract

SMS or text messaging is an area of growth in the communications field. The studies described below consisted of a questionnaire and a diary study. The questionnaire was designed to examine texting activities in 565 users of the mobile phone. The diary study was carried out by 24 subjects over a period of 2 weeks. The findings suggest that text messaging is being used by a wide range of people for all kinds of activities and that for some people it is the preferred means of communication. These studies should prove interesting for those examining the use and impact of SMS. q

Importance of Anthropometry for Designing User-Friendly Devices: Mobile Phones

“…Individuals and the females with normally small sized hand and thumb are satisfied with the overall keypad design whereas males with larger hand dimensions found it much easier to ring than messaging [2,4]. This finding is consistent with the results shown in the tables 3 and 4.…”

“…Literature review reveals that no study had investigated the effect of users' varying thumb sizes on texting satisfaction. Some users with large fingers have commented about the difficulty of using mobile phones to send text messages [1][2][3]. However, the very few reports which were based on SMS texting and users' satisfaction did not take the hand anthropometry (i.e.…”

More Dynamic Than You Think: Hidden Aspects of Decision-Making

“…Our choice of micro diaries was also influenced by the growing trends associated with social media, where individuals are inclined to engage in multiple but fragmented conversations simultaneously (Faulkner and Culwin 2005;Deloitte 2016).…”

Can Text Messages Make People Kinder?

“…This is a plausible hypothesis considering that narcissism is associated with more frequent social media use (Carpenter, 2012;Panek, Nardis, & Konrath, 2013), and that studies have found that mobile phones can reduce people's empathy, feelings of closeness, feelings of trust, and prosocial behaviors (Abraham, Pocheptsova, & Ferraro, 2012;Przybylski & Weinstein, 2013). Yet even though mobile phones may distract people from face-to-face interactions under some circumstances, they also literally connect us to others, making us feel closer to loved ones when there is physical distance ("Always connected: How Smartphones and Social Keep Us Engaged," 2013; Coyne, Stockdale, Busby, Iverson, & Grant, 2011;Faulkner & Culwin, 2005;Padilla-Walker, Coyne, & Fraser, 2012;Pettigrew, 2009). Technologies are simply tools, and with the introduction of new technologies, there are often struggles to make sense of them and optimize their potential (Postman, 1992).…”