The Signal Function of Time in Social Interaction: How Temporal Experience Provides Framing Cues for Falling in Love

Do various dimensions of temporality signal that one is falling in love? If so, how do aspects of time and temporal experience function as framing cues for that definition of the situation? Couples complete online questionnaires and interviews with reporters to have their wedding announcements printed in The New York Times . Our data consist of extracts from 191 wedding announcements published between December 10, 2023 and December 1, 2024. We find that couples cite distortion in the perceived passage of time during their earliest encounters. After matching or meeting, they see or contact each other with great frequency. Couples progress through a common sequence of events that, together, constitute the narrative of their nascent relationship. They view the timing of their initial encounters as fortuitous, even uncanny, and there are multiple turning points in the trajectory of their courtship. Couples report allocating extraordinary amounts of time to each other and doing so often requires taking or stealing time from other people or responsibilities. These findings suggest that the signal function of temporality has broad implications for our understanding of time and social interaction.