3 ms·

I think the propensity for geeks to prefer IM, Email and Texting has more to do with a lot of them being introverts and preferring to have time to consider thei

by jsharpe 17y ago

I think the propensity for geeks to prefer IM, Email and Texting has more to do with a lot of them being introverts and preferring to have time to consider their responses, than with a lack of social graces.

sophacles 17y ago
That and the asynchronous nature of exchange -- i hate blocking on you formulating an answer, and all the rediculous connection setup/teardown required.
og1 17y ago
This is definitely it for me. I wish I could operate with a 90 second delay like they have for live television.
chipsy 17y ago
The lack of context for phones frustrates me because it means you can be "accidentally invasive." If you approach someone in real life, you can use your senses to gauge what they're doing, thinking, and feeling at the moment of contact, and make an social gesture that is appropriate. It helps with first impressions, which are always important. And with email the asychronity is high so your risk of reaching someone at a bad time is low, so again, you can make a good first impression. But if you're going over phone, there is some expectation of real-time availability - nobody really likes voice mail. Phone calls have a dreadful suddenness to them. Thank goodness we're moving past the days when almost everything had to be done by cold-calling a number. IM and texting can be even worse in some ways as the expectations of timeliness are fluid so communication may get frustrating when one person is moving way faster than the other, but I think they actually work really well when used for short-term "business update" types of communication: "I will meet you at 5pm." "Do you have a link for <x>?" "We changed our plans for the meeting." etc.
- dan_the_welder 17y ago
  I regularly find myself having two separate conversation threads in a text message exchange with one person. I don't know if that confuses people or not.
  - sp332 17y ago
    I often have two threads of conversation going in a face-to-face exchange. It's not very confusing.
- Dove 17y ago
  Exactly. I have a strong aversion to intruding on someone else's consciousness -- breaking their concentration, or interrupting a task in progress with non-critical communication. Over the phone, I have no way to see what you're doing, so I cannot determine the degree to which I am intruding in your intellectual space. Hence I view the phone as an inherently high priority medium and use it sparingly. I will only call you if I have something so important to say that I would have been willing to interrupt whatever you might be doing. And I will be brief. This behavior is forced on me by my notions of courtesy. But I am aware that it sends all kinds of incorrect signals to my mother . . .

by jsharpe 17y ago

sophacles 17y ago

That and the asynchronous nature of exchange -- i hate blocking on you formulating an answer, and all the rediculous connection setup/teardown required.

og1 17y ago

This is definitely it for me. I wish I could operate with a 90 second delay like they have for live television.

chipsy 17y ago

The lack of context for phones frustrates me because it means you can be "accidentally invasive." If you approach someone in real life, you can use your senses to gauge what they're doing, thinking, and feeling at the moment of contact, and make an social gesture that is appropriate. It helps with first impressions, which are always important. And with email the asychronity is high so your risk of reaching someone at a bad time is low, so again, you can make a good first impression. But if you're going over phone, there is some expectation of real-time availability - nobody really likes voice mail. Phone calls have a dreadful suddenness to them. Thank goodness we're moving past the days when almost everything had to be done by cold-calling a number. IM and texting can be even worse in some ways as the expectations of timeliness are fluid so communication may get frustrating when one person is moving way faster than the other, but I think they actually work really well when used for short-term "business update" types of communication: "I will meet you at 5pm." "Do you have a link for <x>?" "We changed our plans for the meeting." etc.

dan_the_welder 17y ago
I regularly find myself having two separate conversation threads in a text message exchange with one person. I don't know if that confuses people or not.
- sp332 17y ago
  I often have two threads of conversation going in a face-to-face exchange. It's not very confusing.
Dove 17y ago
Exactly. I have a strong aversion to intruding on someone else's consciousness -- breaking their concentration, or interrupting a task in progress with non-critical communication. Over the phone, I have no way to see what you're doing, so I cannot determine the degree to which I am intruding in your intellectual space. Hence I view the phone as an inherently high priority medium and use it sparingly. I will only call you if I have something so important to say that I would have been willing to interrupt whatever you might be doing. And I will be brief. This behavior is forced on me by my notions of courtesy. But I am aware that it sends all kinds of incorrect signals to my mother . . .