Frequency

• Computers have drastically increased the frequency of communication by decreasing its cost and enabling people to send messages with little preparation. As of 2010, American teenagers sent more than 3,300 text messages each month, according to CNN (See Reference 1). Even people in their twenties and thirties generate text messages by the hundreds. Some businesses send out email newsletters and updates almost daily. People spend hours using online chat rooms and instant messaging software for real-time communication. This overload of information can lead to stress, confusion, selfishness and other ill effects, according to the Global Development Research Center. It also harms the ability to concentrate. Computer printing and word processing have also helped small organizations to regularly send out personalized bulk postal mail. Computers operate interactive phone systems that allow customers to call banks and major companies at any hour.
  
  

Length

• In the past, people had the incentive to write long letters; they needed to pay the same amount for a stamp to mail one sentence or three pages. Since personal computers became widespread, communication has extended to both extremes of length. People often send very brief email messages and texts, sometimes using numerous abbreviations and acronyms. According to an August 2009 article in "The Telegraph," a 2009 study performed at Birmingham University in the U.K. found that text messages contain only about 18 words on average. At the same time, people frequently email large photos and documents consisting of several megabytes. A downside is that people without fast Internet connections must spend much more time downloading these files than the time it would take to open a clasped envelope.
  
  

Distance

• In most parts of the world, computers and the Internet have made communication with people hundreds or thousands of miles away much less expensive than using a telephone or postal mail. Since the mid-1990s, computers have enabled many users to send email messages to recipients on different continents without any extra difficulty or cost. The Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, makes audio-based communication less expensive by using the Internet rather than a traditional telephone, according to the Encarta Encyclopedia. However, computers do use considerably more electricity than telephones, cost more to purchase and require more time to set up for voice communication.
  
  

Complexity

• One of the more negative effects computers have on communication is the added complexity in sending and receiving messages. For example, just about anyone can open and read a typewritten letter sent in an envelope. On the other hand, some people may find it difficult to set up an email or instant messaging account, or experience difficulty opening a document sent by email because the sender uses a different version or a completely different program. An individual may send a set of zipped files to a recipient who lacks an unzipping program or doesn't know how to use it. W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium, has reported receiving numerous complaints about email attachment formats that recipients couldn't open or had difficulty using.