A study of 309 personal e-mail users in Ohio found that nearly half say they make fewer long-distance telephone calls since they've gone online.
But the results also showed e-mail and telephone conversations each met different needs for users, said John Dimmick, co-author of the study and associate professor of journalism and communication at Ohio State University.
Study respondents said the telephone was superior to e-mail for expressing emotions and affection, giving advice and providing companionship. But e-mail was rated better for overcoming schedule and time conflicts when trying to reach friends and family, and for communicating with people in different time zones.
"Our results clearly indicate that e-mail is replacing long-distance calls for some personal communication," Dimmick said. "But people view the telephone and e-mail as complementary. The two together meet more needs than either does alone."
Dimmick conducted the study with Susan Kline and Laura Stafford, both associate professors of journalism and communication at Ohio State. The research appears in the current issue of the journal Communication Research.
The survey involved telephone interviews with randomly selected residents of Columbus. Dimmick said the results are, strictly speaking, only applicable to Columbus. However, because Columbus is often used as a test market, similar results would probably be found in other metro areas.
Researchers carefully screened respondents to ensure that the final sample of 309 used e-mail for personal messages. The researchers also checked that respondents actually used e-mail, and not just related forms of communication such as chat rooms, instant messaging, list-serves, or electronic bulletin boards.
The final sample showed that e-mail users are still predominantly young and well-educated, Dimmick said. About 98 percent were between 18 and 30 years of age, and two-thirds had a college degree. Respondents were nearly evenly split between men and women.
Although the study showed people are making fewer long-distance calls because of e-mail, the survey did not ask how many fewer calls people were making, Dimmick said. "We only know that people say they are replacing at least some of their long-distance calls with e-mails."
Respondents were asked to rate how helpful e-mail and the telephone were for 19 different functions, such as giving advice and fitting work schedules.
Dimmick said it is not surprising that the telephone was rated as more helpful for "sociability" functions such as giving advice and expressing emotion. "The human voice carries a tremendous amount of emotional information," he said. "That's something that e-mail can't duplicate."
However, telephone can't match e-mail when it comes to scheduling problems, the results showed. "People liked the fact that you can leave an e-mail anytime, and no one has to respond immediately. People can communicate on their own schedules, which makes it much easier to keep in contact," Dimmick said.
Although some observers have criticized the Internet culture for damaging the sense of community in the United States, Dimmick said these results paint a different picture, at least for e-mail users.
"This study shows that people are finding ways to use e-mail to extend a sense of caring and community within their circle of friends and family," he said. "E-mail helps them keep in touch in situations when they might otherwise not be able to communicate.
"It's clear that the telephone is better for expressing emotions, but when you can't use the telephone because of schedules or other reasons, people find e-mail is a good alternative."
Written by Jeff Grabmeier
614-292-8457
Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
Journal
Communication Research