This article makes me rejoice. I HATE talking on the phone. It makes so much more sense in most cases to e-mail, that way both participants can do their communicating at a time convenient to them. The only exception I see to this rule is for good friends who just want to chat, and even then it makes sense to schedule a time. Maybe this is just because I have three little kids who make talking on the phone inconvenient if not downright dangerous.
@Jessica: I sincerely love the convenience and practicality of email (and, to a lesser extent texting, tweeting, facebooking, etc) but there is no replacement for the communication capacity of human speech (particular in face to face scenarios, but followed closely by the telephone).
I can't count the number of times I have had written correspondence go off the rails because of some misunderstanding of tone that cannot be properly expressed in text...
My fear and emotional response to the NY Times article derives from an idea (probably far-fetched), that we humans will gradually lose our ability to communicate intimately and openly with other real, live humans.
This article makes me rejoice. I HATE talking on the phone. It makes so much more sense in most cases to e-mail, that way both participants can do their communicating at a time convenient to them. The only exception I see to this rule is for good friends who just want to chat, and even then it makes sense to schedule a time. Maybe this is just because I have three little kids who make talking on the phone inconvenient if not downright dangerous.
ReplyDelete@Jessica: I sincerely love the convenience and practicality of email (and, to a lesser extent texting, tweeting, facebooking, etc) but there is no replacement for the communication capacity of human speech (particular in face to face scenarios, but followed closely by the telephone).
ReplyDeleteI can't count the number of times I have had written correspondence go off the rails because of some misunderstanding of tone that cannot be properly expressed in text...
My fear and emotional response to the NY Times article derives from an idea (probably far-fetched), that we humans will gradually lose our ability to communicate intimately and openly with other real, live humans.