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

TL;DR

This study investigates how face-to-face proximity correlates with mobile phone communication, revealing that physical closeness is a strong predictor of call frequency, but mobile communication remains a noisy indicator of social tie strength.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence linking face-to-face interactions with mobile communication frequency using a large multi-channel dataset over 10 months.

Findings

Face-to-face proximity predicts mobile call frequency.

Physical proximity is the strongest predictor of calls.

36% of variance in calls explained by face-to-face interactions.

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.