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Hello everyone,
I’m doing a university project on Instant Messaging, and for my final project I am going to try to make an IM which allows the user to share their emotions and interpret the moods of the person that he/she is communicating with, so as to limit the amount of misunderstanding that people encounter when using IMs.
If anyone could answer some of my questions, I would really appreciate it.
1. Have you ever experienced misunderstanding within conversation using Instant Messengers?
2. Do you feel that communication in Instant Messengers can be a little emotionless?
3. Do you feel that you are able to communicate as well on Instant Messengers, as you would do face-to-face?
4. Do you think that tools such Smileys / Emoticons are good at communicating complex emotional expression?
Thanks a lot for reading this, if you could post yes/no responses to any of the questions that would be brilliant, and if you feel like writing a comment that would be even better.
Hey, welcome to BigBlueBall!
Thanks for posting this. Sounds like you are making an interesting project, please keep us posted. 🙂 Now… the questions.
inacea wrote:1. Have you ever experienced misunderstanding within conversation using Instant Messengers?Many times. However, this was mostly not caused by the medium (IM), but more often because the people I communicate with, or myself for that matter, speak English less fluently than the other side.inacea wrote:2. Do you feel that communication in Instant Messengers can be a little emotionless?Yes. It is very hard to notice when somebody on the other end feels hurt. I’ve found that I get easily hurt and hurt even easier by sending text messages than I get and do in real life.inacea wrote:3. Do you feel that you are able to communicate as well on Instant Messengers, as you would do face-to-face?Yes, but often I prefer phone above instant messengers, mainly because it’s faster to discuss things. IM is great for talking, but for having discussions it becomes a bit slow.inacea wrote:4. Do you think that tools such Smileys / Emoticons are good at communicating complex emotional expression?Yes, but there are many different emoticons around and many different ways of interpreting them, so it becomes hard to always recieve or send the meaning of an emoticon correctly.
I made a start… now let’s hope lots of people reply. 🙂
And again, keep us posted about your project. 😉Instant messages are great for casual conversations. There are many problems with using instant messaging for more serious conversations. Emoticons do not adequately express complex or difficult emotions — they are lighthearted by their very nature.
Instant messages allow for greater distraction and multi-tasking. Often one or more participants are in multiple simultaneous conversations or are engaged in other activities. This is usually ok for casual conversations, but for a serious discussion it can lead to frustration and pain when one party feels slighted.
On the plus side, instant messaging can allow people to think a little be longer before they say something they might regret.
IM is also helpful for people who have a difficult time communicating, either due to language or physical issues such as deafness. The slower pace can work to their advantage.
I agree with Hasan; there are many times when the phone is a better choice than instant messaging. Often a serious conversation begun in an instant messaging is best moved to either voice chat or phone. And I would add that face-to-face interaction is even better.
Here’s my hierarchy of communication value, ranked from the weakest to the strongest:
- SMS / text messaging
- Instant messaging (text plus emoticons)
- IM + video
- Voice chat
- Phone conversation
- Voice + video chat
- Face-to-face
This is my personal ranking and isn’t based on any scientific analysis — just my personal experience.
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