Influence of Sex on Language in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication
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2002
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Instant Messenger is quickly becoming a popular mode of communication throughout our society. Two studies of mostly College-aged users of AOL Instant Messenger examined characteristics of this medium. The first study collected survey and self-report data from over 200 users of Instant Messenger, while the second study examined saved Instant Messenger logs from a sub-set of those who participated in the initial portion of the study. The typical IM user in this population chats mostly with real-life friends and indicated that the medium is conducive to both serious and casual conversations. Subjects reported actively using Instant Messenger for an hour and 15 minutes a day and indicated having IM conversations that average just over 20 minutes in length. A few sex differences were found in the first part of the study, with males indicating that they both have asked someone out and argued more often over IM than females. In logged conversations, the average length of one person's contribution to a conversation was just over 250 words. Emoticons and profanity were found to make up less than 1% of a conversation, while logs consisted nearly 9% of abbreviations/slang. Fewer sex differences were found when analyzing the Instant Messenger logs than were expected. The only significant sex difference detected in this portion of the study was that the influence of the sex of the person they were talking to was significantly greater for males than it was for females in terms of their use of abbreviation/slang. Instant Messenger is a relatively new mode of communication and much more research will certainly soon be conducted in this area.