Desired Speed of Reply During Text-Based Communication via Smartphones

Text-based forms of communication have long been communicated via PCs and more recently via mobile phones and smartphones. This chapter has tried to explore how the speed of text message exchanges has become a nonverbal cue in the asynchronous communications that occurs via mobile phones and smartphones. This chapter presents the investigation of the speed of exchange relevant to the LINE text-messenger application. Specifically, the authors surveyed Japanese university students who provided free-response descriptions of situations when (a) a quick reply is preferred and (b) a late reply is acceptable. The main finding was that judging when a quick reply is preferred and when a late reply is acceptable is overwhelmingly influenced by the convenience of the sender (who is waiting for a reply) over the convenience of the recipient who will reply.