The NY Times reported a study today undertaken by researchers at Rutgers and DePaul Universities that showed more than ninety percent of email communications were, in some way, falsified.
To get at these numbers, researchers told 48 graduate students that they had $89 to divvy up amongst themselves and two other people - one person they knew, and another they didn't. The participants, when using email to tell others about their new found fortune, lied 92% of the time about how much money there was, whereas the participants who wrote down their stories with pen and paper lied 64% of the time -- a higher number than I'd have expected, but still a significant difference.
The report was released to discuss how email is being used in the workplace, and not necessarily with a nod towards online dating communications. Still, it made me pause. If people are lying about small amounts of money to relative strangers via the internet in a work scenario, why wouldn't the numbers be higher in a situation where there are more social risks at stake?
The hardest part is my age. While I don’t want to divulge my whole birthday, I don’t want to appear that I am something I am not. I decided on at least making the decade right so I don’t look like I’m preying on someone half my age.
Informative read, I learned a lot!
JenniferSmith