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I hate the phone.
I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the phone.
The phone combines the worst aspects of letter-writing/e-mail/etc with the worst aspects of face-to-face conversation.
The phone means that you have zero body language to work with (you get tone of voice, but you don’t get the facial expressions and what not that allow you to differentiate between a “Hold on, I’m thinking” pause and an “I’m horrified/disgusted/insulted by what you just told me” pause, for example). You can’t take a minute (or a whole day, if need be) to formulate an appropriate response.
I like written communication specifically because of that. Because I can get a letter/e-mail/blog-post/whatever from someone and if they’re talking about something really (or potentially really) intense they don’t have to (or are less likely to? Maybe?) feel threatened about revealing this stuff, because they don’t have to *see* the immediate reaction of me (or whoever else is reading the letter) – I know that, in my case, it’s way easier for me to tell someone something that they might not like through the medium of e-mail because then I don’t have to see them looking disappointed/angry/irritated/whatever.
Similarly, if someone tells me that they’re hurting/scared/experiencing something overwhelming/etc I can take the time I need to come up with a response that is more coherent than “Ack! That is so [insert useless descriptive word here]!” or what-have-you.
I can’t do that on the phone. I can only stand there, with my mouth hanging open and my mind racing, while my poor friend, who has confided in me, waits on the other end of the silence, wondering what went wrong.
I reiterate: I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the phone.
This has been a public service announcement. :-)
- TTFN,
- Amazon.
I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the phone.
The phone combines the worst aspects of letter-writing/e-mail/etc with the worst aspects of face-to-face conversation.
The phone means that you have zero body language to work with (you get tone of voice, but you don’t get the facial expressions and what not that allow you to differentiate between a “Hold on, I’m thinking” pause and an “I’m horrified/disgusted/insulted by what you just told me” pause, for example). You can’t take a minute (or a whole day, if need be) to formulate an appropriate response.
I like written communication specifically because of that. Because I can get a letter/e-mail/blog-post/whatever from someone and if they’re talking about something really (or potentially really) intense they don’t have to (or are less likely to? Maybe?) feel threatened about revealing this stuff, because they don’t have to *see* the immediate reaction of me (or whoever else is reading the letter) – I know that, in my case, it’s way easier for me to tell someone something that they might not like through the medium of e-mail because then I don’t have to see them looking disappointed/angry/irritated/whatever.
Similarly, if someone tells me that they’re hurting/scared/experiencing something overwhelming/etc I can take the time I need to come up with a response that is more coherent than “Ack! That is so [insert useless descriptive word here]!” or what-have-you.
I can’t do that on the phone. I can only stand there, with my mouth hanging open and my mind racing, while my poor friend, who has confided in me, waits on the other end of the silence, wondering what went wrong.
I reiterate: I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the phone.
This has been a public service announcement. :-)
- TTFN,
- Amazon.
