Telephony - Social Context Cues Theory

Social Context Cues Theory

The Social Context Cues Theory is a model to measure the different types of communication and how they maintain the non-verbal cues that are present in face to face interactions. There are a number of different cues that are examined such as the physical context, different facial expressions, body movements, tone of voice, touch and smell. The telephone filters out different context cues that aid in communication.

There are a number of different cues that may be lost with the usage of telephone. There is not equal understanding of the different social context which is occurring around the opposite party. The other party is not able to identify the body movements, touch and smell. There are all communicated with face to face interaction but with telephone usage it is filtered out. Although we see this diminished ability to identify social cues Wiesenfeld, Raghuram, and Garud point out that there is a value and efficiency to the type of communication for different tasks. They examine work places in which different types of communication such as the telephone are more useful than face to face interaction.

The expansion to mobile phones has created a different filter of the social cues than the land line telephone. The use of texting and other messaging on the mobile telephone has created a sense of community. In The Social Construction of Mobile Telephony it is suggested that each phone call and text message is more than an attempt to converse. Instead it is a gesture which maintains the social network between family and friends. Although there is a loss of certain social cues through telephones with mobile phones there is a creation of different cues understood by different groups. There are different language additives that are used to confirm a message that is being sent.