It's surprisingly nice to hear you: misunderstanding the impact of communication media can lead to suboptimal choices of how to connect with others
Abstract
Positive social connections improve wellbeing. Technology increasingly affords a wide variety of media that people can use to connect with others, but not all media strengthen social connection equally. Optimizing wellbeing, therefore, requires choosing how to connect with others wisely. We predicted that people's preferences for communication media would be at least partly guided by the expected costs and benefits of the interaction-specifically, how awkward or uncomfortable the interaction would be and how connected they would feel to their partner-but that people's expectations would consistently undervalue the overall benefit of more intimate voice-based interactions. We tested this hypothesis by asking participants in a field experiment to reconnect with an old friend either over the phone or e-mail, and by asking laboratory participants to "chat" with a stranger over video, voice, or text-based media. Results indicated that interactions including voice (phone, video chat, and voice chat) created stronger social bonds and no increase in awkwardness, compared with interactions including text (e-mail, text chat), but miscalibrated expectations about awkwardness or connection could lead to suboptimal preferences for text-based media. Misunderstanding the consequences of using different communication media could create preferences for media that do not maximize either one's own or others' wellbeing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Research finds that relative to emails and other text-based interactions, those involving human voice boost social connection.
“For example, research finds that relative to emails and other text-based interactions, those involving human voice boost social connection (131).”
From The impact of generative artificial intelligence on socioeconomic inequalities and policy making (2024) · cites this paper as [131]
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Guess What? The Asker–Guesser Discrepancy in Desire for the Right Guess
Peng, P., & Zeng, J. (2024) · Journal of Language and Social Psychology · doi:10.1177/0261927x241291259
“Before engaging in a conversation, individuals frequently undervalue their potential partner ’ s willingness to engage and the enjoyment that might follow (Epley & Schroeder, 2014; Kumar & Epley, 2021; Schroeder et al., 2022).”
Guadagno, R. E. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-811320-2.00009-5
When meeting someone new, try skirting the small talk and digging a little deeper
Kumar, A., Nicholas Epley, A., & Kardas, M. (2022) · doi:10.64628/aai.eus45aw5c
Kunitake, Y., & Miyashita, K. (2025) · IEEE International Conference on Metaverse Computing, Networking and Applications (MetaCom) · doi:10.1109/metacom65502.2025.00007
“A study by [12] compared the feeling of familiarity among strangers communicating via text, audio, and video chats.”
Lachaux, J.-P. (2025) · Cerveau & Psycho · doi:10.3917/cerpsy.181.0068
Ifrah, K., Bar-Tur, L., Lifshitz, R., & Lang, F. R. (2025) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2025.1613861
Holtzman, S., Lisi, D. M., Godard, R. J. P., & DeLongis, A. (2025) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/00332941251409165
Meisel, M. K., Haikalis, M., Doucette, H., Strowger, M., Bradley, K., & Barnett, N. P. (2025) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2025.2603408
“Indeed, communicating via phone is less preferred among younger individuals and may be reserved for one’s closest contacts, 37–39 so may be less globally influential on drinking behavior.”
How expectations affect conversational assessment and memory formation
Guydish, A. J., & Tree, J. E. F. (2026) · New Ideas in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2026.101238
Spoken disagreement is more constructive than written disagreement
Bevis, B., Schroeder, J., & Yeomans, M. (2026) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71669-5
“This suggests that people don ’ t fully grasp how the communication medium affects their conversation outcomes, have trouble simulating a disagreement conversation, and/or do not care about maximizing constructive outcomes in disagreement 72 .”
Minkiewicz, D., & Perera, N. (2026) · Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine · doi:10.1177/13634593261449196
Wanting more: adolescents' expectations for social media responses from peers
Bowman‐Smith, C. K., & Nilsen, E. S. (2026) · Frontiers in Developmental Psychology · doi:10.3389/fdpys.2026.1796593
Piloter les équipes auquotidien
Chopin, M.-V. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-2-294-77999-2.00005-2
Premi, P., & Purani, K. (2026) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-11-2025-0973
Cada año hablamos 300 palabras menos al día: ¿dónde han ido a parar?
Duñabeitia, J. A. (2026) · doi:10.64628/aao.4na5aahep
PhD, P. J. S. M. (2026) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781394433346.refs
- Authors
- Kumar, A., & Epley, N.
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Psychology General
- Published
- 2021-03
- Volume
- 150
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 595-607
- ISSN
- 0096-3445 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-2222
- OpenAlex
- W3084523253
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 11
- FWCI
- 9.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Psychology General (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Chicago
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Digital Communication and Language
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- communication media choice, social connectedness, voice communication, text-based communication, well-being, interpersonal communication, telephone calls, video chat, email, text messaging
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Choice Behavior, Communication, Emotions, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Voice, Comprehension, Young Adult
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