When Hancock conducted his research, only students at a select few universities could create a Facebook account, and the iPhone was in its early stages of development as a confidential project called Project Purple.
How have these numbers changed in the past 20 years? David Markowitz, an assistant professor of social media analytics at the University of Oregon, set out to find out.
The new study involved 250 people and took into account a wider range of technologies. Over the course of a week, they recorded their social interactions and how often they lied in person, on social media, over the phone, via text, video chat, and via email.
As in Hancock's study, the highest rate of lying in social interactions was over phone and video calls. These technologies allow for synchronous and remote communication and do not store messages. Participants lied the least over email.
It is noteworthy that the differences between the forms of communication were insignificant - the greatest influence was exerted by the participants' personal tendency to lie.
The ways we interact have changed over the past two decades, especially during the pandemic. However, it appears that people lie systematically and according to Hancock's functional b2b email list model. More research is needed to understand the exact reasons why different communication media increase the tendency to lie.
However, the current results have several possible explanations. For example, it is easier to lie over the phone or via video call, and if the lie is discovered, it will not have a significant impact on relationships between people. In addition, technologies are usually used for different purposes. Email is more suitable for professional communication, while video calls are more suitable for personal communication.
Myths about digital interaction
The research provides two main conclusions.
The means of communication used play a major role. A person's personal propensity to lie is more important than the technology through which a person communicates.
The percentage of people lying is quite low overall. The Truth-Default Theory has been shown to be correct. It assumes that people tell the truth most of the time, and only a few of them lie consistently.
Since 2004, social media has become a major place for social interaction. However, there is still a widespread myth that digital communication, unlike face-to-face communication, reduces the quality of communication. The belief that lying is widespread in the digital age is not consistent with the data.