Communication technology keeps getting in the way of communication!

“You have reached The Acme Company automated switchboard. You now have three choices: If you know the extension number of the person you wish to reach, please dial it now. If you wish our employee directory, press 1…” and on and on ad infinitum. Sound familiar? If my fellow Scot, Alexander Graham Bell, had known this was going to happen, he might have thought twice about inventing the telephone in the first place.

Like many other innovations since then, the telephone was invented as a way of improving communication. The same is true of e-mail, voicemail, teleconferencing, cellphones, and text messaging. But do they truly help us connect with one another more effectively?

“You have reached The Acme Company automated switchboard. You now have three choices: If you know the extension number of the person you wish to reach, please dial it now. If you wish our employee directory, press 1…” and on and on ad infinitum. Sound familiar? If my fellow Scot, Alexander Graham Bell, had known this was going to happen, he might have thought twice about inventing the telephone in the first place.

Like many other innovations since then, the telephone was invented as a way of improving communication. The same is true of e-mail, voicemail, teleconferencing, cellphones, and text messaging. But do they truly help us connect with one another more effectively?

The President of a major technology company told me she was perturbed to note people who sat beside each other, separated only by a room divider, communicating with each other by e-mail instead of in person. I asked

her why that worried her. She had two reasons. First, while e-mail can be a quick and efficient way of transferring information, it does not convincingly convey a person’s tone or feelings. Simply stating facts in the often terse style of e-mail can lead to misunderstanding and ill feelings. Second, using e-mail instead of walking around a corner for a quick personal conversation is a step down a slippery slope to the point where we can avoid any interpersonal relationships on the job at all.

A number of my business acquaintances have noticed that when they arrive at the office in the morning, they typically have a line-up of voicemail messages awaiting their attention, many of which were obviously left after office hours the night before. It seems clear to me that many of these callers choose to call outside office hours because they don’t want to reach a live human being. They want to leave their side of the ‘communication’ without have to contend with the other person’s response. Add to this the growing use of “Call Display”, and the telephone becomes a barbed wire fence we can erect to keep anyone from communicating with us in person at all. Now there’s progress for you, Mr. Bell!

In future posts I’ll talk about other ways communication technology gets in the way of communication. In the meantime, observe your own behaviour and see if you are unnecessarily cutting off human contact with your colleagues through misuse of technology. I’d love to have your comments!