Getting Off the E-mail/IM Bandwagon
I’m a talker; I’m a people person. I’m one of those people who has animated conversations with barbers, garbagemen and taxi drivers. At parties, I’ll meet peple and fairly quickly know what they do, where they grew up, how many brothers and sisters they have, and how they met their wife/husband. I’m interested in people and like talking. Yet somewhere over the past decade, I’ve become a digitial communications junkie. First it was e-mail and, most recently, it has become instant-messaging. My Gmail in-box has 12,537 messages, and when I have my Blackbery, I find it hard to resist the urge to check it on a regular basis.
Things have got to change.
So today, I’m climbing off the e-mail/IM bandwagon. Whenever possible, I’m going to talk the talk and I’m going to walk the tal. No more extended e-mail exchanges, no more IM flurries. Instead, I’m going to pick up the phone (or click on a Skype contact) and call someone. Why? It’s mostly because I find e-mail and IM exchanges lack substance. You end up sending digital packets back and forth to each other but you don’t really communicate effectively or well. It’s like eating a meal, and then realizing you’re still hungry. In other words, they’re unsatisfying.
Walking away from e-mail and IM will seem like a radical move to many people because they’re both seen as effective ways to communicate. Rather than interupt someone by calling them, we take the easy way out by sending an e-mail or IM. Unless the message involves a simple statement (”I’m leaving work now”) or requires a simple answer (”I’ll be there in seven minutes), you should talk to someone. Far too often, conversations that require intonation, nuance, diplomacy and subtlely are frustratingly ineffective. Yet we insist on having these digital conversations even though we know many of them are not terribly good or productive.
For me, that changes today. While I’m not abandoning e-mail or IM because they can be useful tools, I’m going to start calling people. Sure, it could take more time and I’ll probably end up leaving a ton of voice-mail messages but at the end of the day, I’ll feel like I’m really communicating rather than going through the digital motions.
March 18th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Of course, one trusts you will use iotum’s Talk Now on your Blackberry. If used appropriately you will avoid the need to leave any voice mails. You just leave notifications with those who are not available (along with the subject of your call) and you’ll be notified when they are available for calling.
Enjoy the experiment! Will look forward to seeing how it works out.
Now to get back to those big IM company booths here at CeBit!
March 18th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Gee, is this a new concept for you?
I applaud you though, I am sure everyone else will love to hear your voice as much as I do every day, and you are exactly right. Real communication needs as real of a human behind it as is possible.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:22 am
[...] d’ya think? That’s why they call it continuous partial attention. Update: Mark drops out; more to my point. [...]
March 18th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
You have lost your mind. I’m going to block you on Skype right now.
March 19th, 2007 at 1:25 am
I wish you the best of luck… in checking your 50,000 emails you will have waiting for you when you change your mind.
As much as I’m pulling for you, I know that you’ll see how downhill the world has become to such a point that you can’t go back to “conventional” methods of communication. Not only has conversation come to lack substance, but people in general are ever more lazy. I myself am no stranger to this. People just prefer the convenience of email/IM whenever they want.
I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be talking to me on the PHONE and then hear the flush of the toilet!
So email and IM still have their place!
March 19th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Mark,
I for one applaud your efforts. At least from a records management perspective your lead in minimizing e-mail and IM use is a good step. Both public and private organizations are currently grappling with the issue of how to deal with the records created in e-mail and similar communications technologies. When these records are not managed properly it can prove very costly, not only in the time it takes to check and respond to email messages that a simple conversation on the archaic telephone would have accomplished in seconds (without leaving an unnecessary “paper” trail), but in information that is left for lawyers to find and expose in litigation proceedings (See CIBC’s lawsuit against Genuity, or the $2.5 million fine levied against Merrill Lynch by the SEC for improper e-mail management, among other cases.) I realize your decision is based on other motivations, but your post brings to light a very important and current issue for many organizations that is proving very difficult to solve.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I agree with you. Noticed the same thing before Christmas; phone can be quit for 4 hours but 60 emails come in from people making points that lend themselves to calls. Let’s all band together and set aside a day next month as a “non email” day; similar to “Take you bike to work day”, “Second Harvest lunch money day” and do forth. We’ll be happy to solicit our modest blog universe at http://www.wellingtonfund.com/blog/ if you think it’s worth trying.
MRM
March 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Please don’t call me either.
March 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
MRM: I’m all for a “non-email day”. To be honest, it would probably work best if we set it for a Saturday or Sunday. After all, it you can’t give up email on the weekend, then you’re in serious trouble, right? I’ll set a date soon and see how people are willing to join the “cause”..:)
Mark
March 20th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
[...] Post reporter, current VP at b5media–provides a perfect way for me to launch my blog: he is getting off the e-mail/IM bandwagon. In becoming a “digital communications junkie,” he’s realized the time has come [...]