When Texting destroyed communication
After reading a blog post from Joel about how texting destroyed social investment, it got me thinking about how we all communicate differently these days. Joel’s blog post was in reply to Wouter Groeneveld and both are quite a good read.
I began thinking how we communicate these days with our friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and even strangers. Now we are able to sit behind a keyboard of sorts and type away our thoughts and wait for that to be received on the other end. As some good points in the previous articles, you had to wait on the pony express, or mail carrier to deliver a letter. Then wait for a response by mail again.
As a society we used to be patient and wait on the things that mattered. With the age of the internet we get anxiety when we see the message bubbles pop up then disappear, pop up then disappear, and then nothing…
I have seen some responses to the articles that describe the benefits of texting and other chat applications, and I agree, there are benefits. Even while at work we now have Teams to chat, group chats, email, ticketing systems, support documentation/forums, the list goes on. This provides a quick poll of a topic and response.
Recently, I started a new position and created our documentation section since most of the knowledge was built in the brains of the co-workers. They’re all remote and our chats and group chats only could go so far. After typing a long winded question and answer session, I decided to just start calling my team members. At first it could have been a little awkward since I’m new to the team, and had nothing else in common besides working on the same team. However, over time we got to know each other, got more accomplished, and began working better together.
Even now in our team meetings, we all join the video call where we can see each other, converse and discuss things. There is a sense of community with the team now, even more so since almost all of us are not in the same state. There are plenty of times in chat messages where the meaning doesn’t come across the same as if we spoke on the phone about it. It is left to the receiver to interpret the words and respond accordingly.
Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to work with some of the youth at our church and it was quite hilarious to see them communicate. They were sitting in the same room texting each other a normal conversation they could have spoken with everyone. The anxiety though of speaking in person was high.
Some of the best advise I got when I started a job was, go visit the person’s desk if you can. Talk to them about the issue you need help with, but also talk about them, get to know them on a more personal level, more than just the person who fixed the issue. That way when you really need help or a question the person doesn’t mind helping you.
Relationships all revolve around communication. There are many forms of communication, but when you only use one form, your ability to really have a conversation goes down. Being able to use the various communication methods are a good thing. Just today, I had a great conversation at my desk with a co-worker that we could never have over just a text medium.
The benefits of a text medium allow you to carefully craft your thought and your message. However, it is up to the receiver to interpret your exact message. It may actually take you longer to have a conversation because you are working on a project, send a message. That person is interrupted in their day to respond, forgets, then sends something later.
Overall, I think the ability to communicate is going to be a lost art. What is funny as well, people can’t spell either. So only using a text based medium we are relying on a spell check system. How can we rely on that if we don’t know how to spell the word in the first place? Maybe over the next few days, weeks, try another form of communication. When is the last time you picked up a phone and called someone? Hung out and spoke about things? Being able to communicate is part of our daily activities and the methods of that are dwindling.
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