Channels of Computer Mediated Communication and Satisfaction in Long-Distance Relationships by Hampton, Rawlings, Treger, and Sprecher analyze a study to determine what types of communication platforms provide the most satisfaction in long term relationships, or LDRS, as they put it. Most notable from this study was that of the 12 communication mediums: phone calls, received text messages, sent text messages, received picture messages, sent picture messages, instant messaging, Skype, Facetime, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Hangouts, Skype was the most popular in terms of usage and indicated the most satisfaction between couples.

Published in 2018, this finding is extremely surprising to me. As we have entered into an age where Apple products, for the vast majority, dominate the technological world, I would’ve hypothesized that FaceTime would be the strongest indicator of satisfaction in LDR’s. This study proved me wrong. Their reasoning for the lack of FaceTime in the participants’ answers was that as we know, FaceTime is only usable through Apple products. I find this to be strange, as everyone I know, at the very least, owns an iPhone, and though that might not be many people, I find that cell phones from other companies are extremely rare these days. This finding, to me, was suspicious.

This study included a sample of 588 participants who were in long distance relationships, and had them complete a survey that assessed their communication use and satisfaction through such communication, as well as overall satisfaction in the relationship. The primary goal of this study was to analyze how the frequency of communication through these platforms was associated with satisfaction in LDRs. The link to this survey was given to an introductory social science class at a large MidWestern University and posted to Reddit.  This in and of itself is an implication of the study, as in another study I had read, there was no randomization, and it relied on participants actually going on to Reddit. In addition, to no surprise, the frequency of receiving and sending text messages was also extremely favored, in that we live in such a hyperconnected world, some long distance relationships rely heavily on the concept of talking to each other daily through text, an easy and efficient way to have a conversation these days. I think every relationship is different, so this study may not be the most accurate of other studies I have read about. People prefer to use different modes of communication with their partner depending on who they are and what their relationship is like. I think this study may be too subjective to analyze, but if it were, I would change many things in this study to prevent errors.