Sequential organization of text messages and mobile phone calls in interconnected communication sequences

Abstract

This article investigates how text messages and mobile phone calls interrelate as parts of continuous communication sequences. Based on the recorded mobile communication of 14-year-olds in Denmark and a conversation-analytic approach, the article will show that after a text message in a continuous communication sequence, four different types of conversation may follow: the answer (after a text message demanding a reply), the reminder (in case of a missing text message), the resumption of conversation (after a closed text message exchange) and the confirmation (after a text message with a request for/promise of a call). In itself, the change from text message to conversation requires no interactional efforts from the participants. However, changes of mode are related to the different communicative possibilities the text message and the phone call offer: text messages and calls have distinct formal qualities that govern their uses, and participants in a given sequence move between the two modes, exploiting the potential of each as they ascribe meaning to the written and spoken media. © SAGE Publications 2012.