This survey was designed by Mark J. Grossman, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communications at Suffolk County Community College, Nassau Community College, Hofstra University, Farmingdale State College, and New York Institute of Technology.
RATIONALE FOR THIS SURVEY
Has someone ever sent you a work-related message via Facebook Messenger? I find it annoying because if the issue requires follow-up, I often have to screenshot it or copy-and-paste the text into an email message in order to forward it to the appropriate person at the office.
How about that well-meaning friend who sends you a long, emotional text message about their recent romantic break-up? Because it's so lengthy it arrives split into out-of-sequence 160-character text blocks. You want to reply with empathy and substance, but all you have time for is "k," and that just doesn't feel right.
Since I started teaching Interpersonal and Human Communications on the college level 11 years ago, I've become very interested in the way we communicate digitally and the challenges we all face managing a growing number of digital platforms. Personally, I experience it every day. I have six email accounts: a long-time personal GMail, an email account for my consulting business, and four separate email accounts for the four colleges where I teach. People can also message me by text on my mobile phone, or via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then there's the Remind app for my classes, GroupMe for my softball team, and finally Slack, a messaging and project management app that a client of mine recently adopted.
It's no wonder why we are seeing a sharp decline in social mindfullness, an increase in social isolation, and a sharp rise in the number of people -- young and old -- being diagnosed with some form of Attention Deficit Disorder.
But, I will do no further editorializing lest I show any bias -- this is an academic effort and as the "researcher" or "investigator" I should display a large degree of objectivity.
I designed this survey as a first step in gaining insight regarding how people communicate digitally -- the platforms they choose and their expectations regarding how and when others will respond.
I thank you in advance for your participation. Please feel free to forward this to your colleagues and friends.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Grossman
mark@markgrossmanpr.com631-786-0404