Shawnee Love   •  
February 24, 2015

I recently read an article in the Globe where the author indicated that phone calls are “intrusive, even presumptuous”.  This statement shocked me, the evangelist of “just pick up the phone” to avoid the myriad of miscommunications I see over text, email and silence.

But the article got me thinking.  Am I a dinosaur, longing for the old days of in person conversations in person (or phone if you have to).

While I like emails for explaining and documenting what was agreed to, and texts are fantastic for quick check ins and updates, I don’t think either can replace face to face for communicating feelings, exploring complex thoughts or ideas, brainstorming, or building relationships.

This opinion was formed long ago, in my first technology industry job when the owner stated that we didn’t need to ever visit another one of our offices because we had all this technology for communicating. We had email and instant message to get stuff done.  In fact, email and instant message kept things ticking once we had met face to face to kick off a project, but a project never worked very effectively without some face to face “intervention”.  While video conferencing certainly helps, there is just something about the energy in a room that really greases those relationship cogs.  I continue to see the value of face to face communication with my clients to this day and am not convinced that text and email is all we need.  So I am thinking:

If the 80’s can be cool again and slow food is hot, why not retro communicating?

Please help me see what I am missing.  Is texting where it’s at? Is making a phone call presumptuous? Is face to face a waste of time? Please vote and comment!

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