posted on 2008-01-01, 00:00authored byIrina Shklovski, Robert Kraut, Jonathon Cummings
Many observers have praised new communication technologies for providing convenient and affordable tools
for maintaining relationships at a distance. Yet the precise role of mediated communication in relationship
maintenance has been difficult to isolate. In this paper, we treat residential moves as natural experiments that threaten
existing social relationships and often force people to rely on mediated communication to maintain their old relationships. Results from a 3-wave survey of 900 residential movers describing 1892 relationships shows that
email and the telephone play different roles in social relationships. Email helps maintain social relationships, in the sense that relationships decline when email drops after
the move. However increases in email are not associated with increases in the depth of the relationship or exchanges of support. In contrast, phone calls help movers grow
relationships and exchange social support.