Don't Overestimate The Effectiveness Of Electronic Communication

Electronic communication is a wonderful platform.  It’s incredibly efficient and generally speaking, it’s free.  We can send an email to someone that’s half way around the world, and they’ll receive it almost instantaneously.  We don’t have to stop what we’re doing to hold conversations anymore.  We don’t have to leave our desks to send or receive timely information at work.  We can hold an entire conversation with someone without so much as opening up our mouth to speak or dialing a phone number.

That’s the good news…  There are however, some aspects of electronic communication that tend to be a little tricky.  When we overestimate the effectiveness of electronic communication, we underestimate the effectiveness of direct human interaction.  And it’s here, that things can get a little interesting when it comes to how to use or not use this type of communication.

If you’re at all like me, there are times when you receive an email/text message/instant message/etc…and just have no clue as to how you should interpret it.  Why?  Well, on the upside we’re not idiots.  Nor, is it that we're incompetent human beings that have no business functioning in society because we don’t know how to interpret an electronic message with absolute accuracy.  So at least we have that going for us..

To put it very simply, electronic communication is nothing more than words on a screen.  Issues arise when we assume this form of communication is more effective than it actually is.  What do I mean by that?  Well…there are no body gestures, voice fluctuations, or facial expressions to help guide the interpretation of what you’re reading.  I think sometimes we underestimate the power of non-verbal communication, which helps to bring humanness to our words.

Bottom line; don’t overestimate the effectiveness of electronic communication.  Sure emails/text messages/instant messages are great for sending/receiving information, small talk, light-hearted chats, etc.  But, don’t rely on them for important discussions.  As tempting as it is, and perhaps we’ve all been guilty of it at one time or another - electronic communication is not the place for dealing with conflict or resolving problems.  There are enough misunderstandings that occur when we’re interacting with each other directly, so imagine how much greater the chances are of a misunderstanding taking place when we use a black and white screen to interact with each other.