THE SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SMS TEXT MESSAGING

The increasingly widespread use of text -messaging has led to the questioning of the social and psychological effects of this novel communication medium. A selection of findings from an online questionnaire that was developed by the author to answer this pertinent question are presented. McKenna’s recent work on the way the Internet can help some people develop relationships is drawn upon and taken a step further by exploring the differences between those who prefer texting (‘Texters’) and those who prefer talking on their mobiles (‘Talkers’). A large sample of 982 respondents completed the questionnaire. Results showed there was a clear distinction between Texters and Talkers in the way they used their mobiles and their underlying motivations. The key finding to emerge in the preliminary analyses was that Texters seemed to form close knit ‘text circles’ with their own social ecology, interconnecting with a close group of friends in perpetual text contact. Compared to Talkers, Texters were found to be more lonely and socially anxious, and more likely to disclose their ‘real-self’ through text than via face- to face or voice call exchanges. Structural equation modeling produced a model showing that where respondents located their real-self and whether they were a Texter or a Talker mediated between the loneliness and social anxiety measures and the impact of these on relational outcomes, in line with McKenna’s theoretical framework. Thus it appears that there is something special about texting that allows some people to translate their loneliness and/or social anxiety into productive relationships whilst for others the mobile does not afford the same effect. .Applications and explorations for future research are discussed.