Reply Speed as Nonverbal Cue in Text Messaging with a Read Receipt Display Function

In text messaging via mobile devices, many users face pressure to rapidly exchange messages. This study investigates reply speeds in smartphone messaging, focusing on messaging with a read receipt function, which notifies the sender of whether the recipient has read a sent message. Using a questionnaire targeting 213 female college students in Japan, we investigate the time until negative emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger and guilt) which occur while waiting for a reply. The authors also address factors of messaging dependency, and find that negative emotions arise in significantly less time when waiting for a reply to a read message than an unread one. Further, most negative emotions occur significantly earlier in high-dependency groups than in low-dependency groups when waiting for a reply in either status. These effects differed in part depending on the type of emotion and recipient. The authors discuss these findings in the context of reply speed as a nonverbal cue.