Chronemic agency: The power of urgency in everyday digital communication

The chronemic agency of a communication medium is defined as "the relative power that messages and notifications that are received through the medium have on the recipient's attention and reaction time." This study measures the chronemic agency 635 participants assign to their communication media, and explores some of the attributes of chronemic agency. It demonstrates that high chronemic agency media such as texting and calling are checked more frequently, are more likely to be used for urgent communication, and messages that arrive via those media are more likely to lead to a quick response. The findings demonstrate the power of urgency in everyday digital communication, enrich our understanding of social entrainment in the digital age, enhance media choice theory, contribute to communication overload research, and have applied implications in areas where the strong "pull" of high chronemic agency media can have devastating effects, such as the case of distracted driving.