Social Differences in CMC: a Case Study of Japanese Mobile Phone E-mail

Abstract

This study investigates how people in different social groups use computer-mediated communication (CMC) in their communication, using Japanese mobile phone e-mail exchanges as an example. The data corpus for this study—43,295 mails for communication purposes from 60 Japanese young people—is analysed, including non-parametric statistical analysis (Mann-Whitney U test and Steel-Dwass test). As for intergroup differences, Keitai-mail are found to be used differently by different age and gender groups. Women create longer texts with more emoticons and non-standard usage of language than men do. At the same time, they also change their style of composition based on the interlocutors’ gender. These differences suggest that code-switching is actively applied in Keitai-mail communication. Other differences found among different gender and age groups relate to what kind of topics they mainly discuss in Keitai-mail: the topics which they generally choose or which are even unconsciously chosen are reflections of their lifestyle. This study illustrates the different uses of a CMC practice based on users’ properties, and further experimental studies (e.g. structural equation modelling) will elucidate more detailed mechanisms of communication practices, or longitude clinical research will evaluate the factors relating to CMC how critical and prolonged they are, with better treatment outcomes.

Appendices

Appendix A. Definition of Each Genres in this Study

Genres Indicating that Things Happen Along a Certain Timeline

• Near-future coordination: this is defined as “things that have already begun or will happen soon”; here, more concretely, “soon” is defined as “within a few minutes (at best, 10 minutes maximum)”

• Middle-future coordination: this is defined as “things that will happen in the next hours or next day”

• Distant-future coordination: based on the ‘middle-future coordination’, distant-future coordination is defined as “things that will happen in two days or more”

• Coordination of the day: this deals with things happening on the day mails are exchanged; it encapsulates some aspects of near-future coordination and middle-future coordination.

• Future coordination: genres for messages stating things that will happen sometime, but “when that thing will happen” cannot be decided solely by the content of the message. In other words, the messages display some vagueness in stating the time when something will happen.

• Personal news: messages which speak about what has happened around the senders

Genres Related to Messages Intended to Convey Information to Interlocutors

Questions: simply, the questions that message senders ask recipients

• Requests: requests include any type of messages through which senders try to cause recipients to do something, either by requesting or commanding

• Invitations: invitation here solely focuses on actual invitation messages in which the sender invites the recipient to some event/place

• Suggestions: messages which include information on what senders believe recipients should do

• Opinions: compared with suggestions, messages are tagged as opinions when the sense of eagerness to cause someone to do something is weaker. They are simple statements of what the writer believes.

• Short answers: this is an extension of “short one-word answers.” This study includes messages which answer questions/requests with only short messages. e.g.「了解」(OK), 「大丈夫」 (no problem)

• Greetings: salutations, such as 「おはよう」(Good morning) and 「こんにちは」(hello/good afternoon)

• Calling interlocutor by name: this refers to phrases which simply use the name of interlocutors (names within other genres are categorised into the other genres)

• Thank-you notes: messages expressing appreciation to recipients

• Congratulatory notes: messages which celebrate some success or something good to do with the recipients

• Apologies: messages of apology

Genres Expressing Information About Message Creators

• Expectations: interpretations of something talked about in Keitai-mail (or simply guessed) by message senders

• Hopes (H): statements of something senders hope for in the future

Genres Introducing Some Types of Information (to Recipients)

• Personal information: information about senders

• Information: information other than about the senders such as information on others or more general information

• Location information: information about a target place

• Safety issues: information cautioning the recipient about safety

• Quotations: messages consisting of others’ words (including famous people/people around participants)

Genres Utilised as a Mediator of Communication

• Grooming: this is defined as “messages giving compliments or engaging in small talk”

• Emotional grooming: grooming which underlies emotions of senders

• Jokes: jokes which impart a sense of humour in communication

• Sex-related jokes: jokes around sex and related matters

Appendix B. Supplementary Data

Table 9 Use of emoticons in terms of type

Table 10 Use of each emoticon based on age and social group

Table 11 Occurrence and proportion of each genre based on age and social role1

Appendix C. Statistical Data

Table 12 Steel-Dwass test for Kaomoji comparison

Table 13 The Kruskal-Wallis test and Steel-Dwass test for gender differences in use of emoticons

Table 14 The Kruskal-Wallis test and Steel-Dwass test for gender differences in use of genres

Table 15 Mann-Whitney U test for different use of emoticons based on age and social roles

Table 16 p values of Mann-Whitney U test for each genre