In-Person Contact Begets Calling and Texting: Interpersonal Motives for Cell Phone Use, Face-to-Face interaction, and Loneliness

Date
2010-12
Authors
Jin, Borae
Park, Namkee
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Abstract

This study examined how cell-phone use is related to interpersonal motives for using cell phones, face-to-face communication, and loneliness. A survey of 232 college students who owned a cell phone revealed that affection and inclusion were relatively strong motivations for using voice calls and text messaging, and that interpersonal motives were positively related to the amount of cell-phone use, including calling and texting. The amount of face-to-face interaction was positively associated with the participants' cell-phone use and their interpersonal motives for using cell phones: the more the participants engaged in face-to-face interaction with other people, the higher their motives were and the more frequent cell-phone use was. Loneliness did not have a direct relation to cell-phone use. Instead, the participants with higher levels of loneliness were less likely to engage in face-to-face social interaction, which led them to use cell phones less and to be less motivated to use cell phones for interpersonal purposes.

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Citation
Jin, Borae, and Namkee Park. "In-person contact begets calling and texting: Interpersonal motives for cell phone use, face-to-face interaction, and loneliness." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13, no. 6 (Dec., 2010): 611-618.