Women used more voice messaging, but not more texts, to text relatives, family (d=0.34), and same-sex friends more; ment sent voice messaging more to opposite-sex friends

Who is the loudest in the communication jungle? An evolutionary perspective on mobile instant messaging. Dorothea Cosima Adler, Benjamin Philip Lange. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: A world without smartphones and mobile instant messaging (mim) via texting or voice messaging (vm) is unthinkable. While texting has already been investigated (e.g., Sultan, 2014), vm has not. It can be assumed that both channels fulfil different purposes. Taking an evolutionary perspective, sex differences in channel choice, motives, and target groups are assumed. Generally, women should use more mim (especially vm) with only one exception: Men should send more vm to the opposite sex. Two online studies were conducted (Study 1: N=317, 232 f; Study 2: N=307,197 f). Study 1. Women used more mim (d=0.30) and liked texting (d=0.23), and vm more (d=0.22). No sex differences emerged on frequency or length of vm/texts. Study 2. Women used more vm (d=0.26), but not more texts. They texted relatives (d=0.70), family (d=0.34), and same-sex friends more (d=0.72) and scored higher on several motives (e.g., intimacy motive in vm, d=0.41). Men sent vm more to opposite-sex friends (d=-0.51; all ps<.05, one-tailed). Our study is the first empirical study that gives insights into sex differences in channel choice of mim from an evolutionary perspective. Further differences (e.g., personality) will be presented at the conference.