Proximity in face-to-face interaction is associated with mobile phone communication

Abstract

The frequency of mobile communication is often used as an indicator of the strength of a tie between two individuals, but how mobile communication relates to other forms of behaving close in social relationships is poorly understood. We used a unique multi-channel 10-month dataset from 510 participants to examine how the frequency of mobile communication was related to the frequency of face-to-face interaction, as measured by Bluetooth scans between the participants mobile phones. The number of phone calls between a dyad was significantly related to the number of face-to-face interactions. Physical proximity during face-to-face interactions was the single strongest predictor of the number of phone calls. Overall, 36 percent of variance in phone calls could be explained by face-to-face interactions and the control variables. Our results suggest that the amount of mobile communication between a dyad is a useful but noisy measure of tie strength with some significant limitations.

arXiv comment31 pages, 4 Tables, 1 Figure

References in corpus (13)

• Structure and tie strengths in mobile communication networks
• Quantifying social group evolution
• Contact patterns in a high school: a comparison between data collected using wearable sensors, contact diaries and friendship surveys
• Measuring large-scale social networks with high resolution
• The persistence of social signatures in human communication
• Social features of online networks: the strength of intermediary ties in online social media
• Daily rhythms in mobile telephone communication
• Tracking Human Mobility using WiFi signals
• Sex differences in intimate relationships
• The Strength of Friendship Ties in Proximity Sensor Data
• Spatial patterns of close relationships across the lifespan
• Long-term evolution of email networks: Statistical regularities, predictability and stability of social behaviors
• Close relationships: A study of mobile communication records