Is Email killing our ability to communicate, or is it Me?
| January 3, 2012 | Posted by Marci under Blog Entry, Getting to the Point |
As a special surprise for the New Year, I learned that one of my email accounts had an issue that kept me from seeing 5582 new messages over the course of the past year. I told my husband about it, and he was amazed that I didn’t spend the next day pouring through the emails to see if I had missed anything important. I was too.
Then I realized it: Email isn’t that important anymore.
Then I wondered what is the killer communication app right now. And, after much consideration, I have to say that there isn’t one anymore. Why? Because everyone who needs to contact you has so many options for contacting you that they will find you whether or not you read your email or text message, or listen to the voicemail on your mobile phone, or read their post on your Facebook/LinkedIn wall, or their direct message to you on Twitter. They can ‘poke’ one of your colleagues at work to deliver a message to you in person, or find your address on their GPS and come to your house if they REALLY need you.
We’re behaving badly.
Back in the olden days of the 1990s, if you needed someone to answer a question, you’d send a letter or leave a message with their secretary and you’d wait for a response. And it was acceptable for that person to reply to you in a day or two. In fact, if you were too aggressive it was considered rude.
Since the beginning of the New Year, I have had two instances when I received an email, text message, phone message on my personal mobile phone and a message on Facebook within an hour of each other about issues that were not really that pressing. It feels like the fictional “WUPH” from The Office TV show has come to life. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc9-wGCHW0)
The politeness barrier — the willingness to wait any amount of time for an answer of any level of importance has been amputated from our mindset by our instant communication technology. This is a mistake.
We’re at the end of our rope.
Without exception, my colleagues have stated that their goal for the New Year is to unplug. Our friends, colleagues and families have become so impatient and rude that we now find ourselves actively hiding from each others’ electronic advances. Instead of technology making us more connected, it’s driving us apart.
One of my friends quoted the book The Four Hour Work Week to me just this afternoon as a rationale to read email only one time each week. A well-known restaurateurs in Federal Hill has thrown out his mobile phone altogether. I took a two week cyber-vacation over Christmas. It’s happening everywhere.
Is there a technology solution?
So far the answer to our constant badgering by devices and electronic messages has been “well, try this device that does the work faster and in a more interesting way.” But I am starting to think that technology isn’t going to be able to save us from our rudeness any longer. We’ve got to get some manners, and fast.
The demise of email is a symptom of a larger problem. Email is taking the fall because it’s the oldest and most overused, but just wait, because I’ve already heard rumblings that Facebook and Twitter are headed down the same path.
It’s not the technology, it’s the people.
Do you remember back when we used to visit people at their houses, and after a couple of hours we’d slap our knees and say “Well, it’s time to head home” ? The reason we headed home was because we were tired of our friends and wanted to go home. With technology the way it is today, we never get to leave the party.
I think 2011 is the year when people start balancing out their lives and putting their digital conversations into perspective. The party was fun, but we’re all bored with each other, and we’re going home.
Take that Apple Corp and Mark Zuckerberg. We’re taking our lives back.
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