UMaine-led study finds type of smartphone use connected with ability to interpret nonverbal communication 

How people use smartphones can indicate their ability to understand and interpret nonverbal social cues, such as facial expressions and tone, according to a University of Maine-led study. 

Research revealed that active smartphone users — people who write posts and share photos on social media more than they read other users’ content — are more likely to struggle with decoding nonverbal communication. On the other hand, passive smartphone users — those who spend more time consuming content on social media than creating their own — are more likely to excel at it. 

Mollie Ruben, an assistant professor of psychology at UMaine, spearheaded a study that explored whether using technology, particularly smartphones, helped or hindered people’s ability to interpret nonverbal cues. UMaine graduate students Morgan Stosic and Jessica Correale and Danielle Blanch-Hartigan, an associate professor at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, also worked on the study. 

The team first attempted to determine whether time spent using smartphones correlated with ability to decode nonverbal communication, yet discovered no connection between them. Further exploration, however, revealed that active users scored lower when tested for nonverbal communication decoding, while passive users scored higher. 

The journal Frontiers in Psychology published the researchers’ report about their study, which, according to them, was the first to “have empirically examined the relationship between technology use and nonverbal decoding skill.”

“Technology affords us the ability to stay connected, but not all technology use is created equal in terms of the effect it has on our ability to read others’ nonverbal cues,” Ruben says. “Our studies suggest that frequent posting on social media may hinder nonverbal communication decoding ability.” 

Smartphones and other devices have changed the way people communicate in recent years, but little empirical research has been conducted to determine how they affect communication skills, according to researchers. New communication technology can affect, if not limit, the number and types of nonverbal cues available to users, raising the question of how well people who favor technology-mediated communication over face-to-face interpret them. 

Ruben, Stosic, Correale and Blanch-Hartigan performed two studies and a miniature meta-analysis to explore the relationship between technology use and the ability to decode nonverbal communication. 

Both studies tested participants’ nonverbal cue interpretation skills using the Workplace Interpersonal Perception Skill (WIPS) test, which tasks viewers with assessing 41 brief videos of different workplace interactions with and without sound, and a Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy-Adult Faces, which requires participants to identify the emotions of adults portrayed in 24 photographs. They also required subjects to complete the Emotional Sensitivity subscale in the Social Skills Inventory to provide a self-assessment of their ability in decoding nonverbal communication.  

The first study focused specifically on evaluating whether a correlation existed between time spent on smartphones and the ability to interpret nonverbal cues, prompting researchers to conduct a separate study three months later to assess the influence of different types of smartphone use — active versus passive. The first study used data from 410 participants from UMaine and the second relied on 190 participants. 

In addition to finding a correlation between how people use smartphones and their nonverbal communication decoding skill, researchers also identified a connection between the type of smartphone use and their perception of how well they can interpret nonverbal cues. Active users self-reported having a higher-than average ability to decode other peoples’ nonverbal communication, while passive users did not report having a better nonverbal cue-reading skill, according to researchers. Both assumptions were contradicted by test results from each group. 

Using gender as a control measure, this study, like earlier research from other experts, concluded that women more accurately perceive nonverbal cues compared to men. 

The UMaine-led research team recommended that future studies explore specific types of nonverbal communication; assess the effects of other smartphone functions, different communication technologies and specific social media platforms on nonverbal communication decoding skills; and create experiments that can identify the causal relationships between technology use and the ability to comprehend nonverbal communication. 

“A deeper understanding of the effects of technology use on communication skills can help us develop effective interventions that target smartphone use with the goal to enhance interpersonal communication skills,” Ruben says. 

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu