How fun: Phone Fibbing Is the Most Common Method for Untruths. In this study of how communication media effects lying, researchers found “phone fibbing is even more likely than when people use e-mail, instant messaging or even speak face-to-face.” I doubt anyone is surprised that one lies less in face to face conversation, but it’s interesting that they found people lie least in e-mail, with face-to-face and IM’ing tying in the middle. They also say that e-mail lies “tended more often to be planned”. The researchers suggest this is because e-mail isn’t interactive, so one doesn’t have flexibilty to adjust the lie to one’s listener, nor is one as likely to be prompted into spontaneous lies. They also point out what seems like a large factor to me: having a permanent record, as compared to the ephemeral quality of the other conversational media.
Glimpses of the websurfing habits of a computer science professor, obsessive crafter, occasional gamer, and all around geek