It seems that declaring love via a voicemail pales in comparison to getting a romantic email.
That’s the news from a study out of the Indiana University in Bloomington. The group of test subjects, millennials, proved that they are more than comfortable with expressing emotion using email in this electronic age, disproving assumptions that face-to-face or voice communication is always more personal.
The results surprised researchers as most previous studies and assumptions have contended that the human voice would trump an electronic message.
“The bottom line is that email is much better when you want to convey some information that you want someone to think about,” said Alan R. Dennis, one of the study’s authors, in a release.
These findings are not alone, according to Slate, which found a whole slew of new research on the phenomenon of how keeping in touch via electronic means is helping foster connections, not destroying them.
“This view of technology-based communication as being more superficial and of a lower quality than other forms of communication was especially prevalent in earlier research,” Slate wrote about University of North Carolina–Greensboro education researchers Christine Murray and Emily Campbell’s article published in Couple & Relationship Therapy. “But ‘increasingly researchers are examining the potential value of these interactions.’ ”
New studies are finding that there’s seemingly no end to using modern-day communication methods to express your undying affection — people use Skype, Instagram, video games, chat and more to keep connected throughout the day.
Soon, all those iconic movie scenes with the protagonist leaving long-winded, heartfelt voicemails might be replaced by someone sweating over their smartphone, trying to craft the perfect message. Email really is just modern-day letter writing, and we all know how freaking romantic that is.
Now, get out there and woo someone with your electronic prose.