Nonverbal Cues in Mobile Phone Text Messages: The Effects of Chronemics and Proxemics

Abstract

Interpersonal communication between mobile phone users seems at the point of departure to have no temporal or spatial boundaries. This chapter describes the experimental paradigms and new results, and also summarizes the state of research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) chronemics and proxemics. Short Message Service (SMS) communication as one form of CMC is first and foremost textbased or verbal communication. Therefore, many CMC theories are potentially applicable to SMS communication. The reduced social cues theory, also dubbed the cues-filtered-out theory argues that textual CMC lacks nonverbal social cues and para-verbal social cues. The social information processing theory abandons the filtered cues approach and states that CMC does indeed include social cues. The self-presentation theory can be interpreted as an extension of the social information processing theory, because it differentiates expressions or cues given from cues given-off. The role of chronemic and proxemic cues in online and mobile computer-mediated textual communication has been addressed by only a small number of studies.