Impact of Text Messaging on Communication

Presenter Information

Heidi Hemmer, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 204

Start Date

27-4-2009 8:00 AM

End Date

27-4-2009 10:00 AM

Student's Major

Communication Studies

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

Daniel Cronn-Mills

Mentor's Department

Communication Studies

Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Description

This study used two focus groups to learn about college students and their use of text messages. All of the students were from the College of Arts and Humanities at Minnesota State University, Mankato. One focus group contained five females and other focus group contained five males. The main focus of this study was to find if text messages displaced face-to-face communication. The results of this study suggest text messages do have a displacing effect on face-to-face communication. But text messaging is not the only technology that has the displacement effect. This study also suggests males and females view text messages differently. The implications of the five themes that emerged are discussed in this study.