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One reason for this shift to oral communication, I think, is that people are less intrinsically willing to do "little things" in writing that make communication

One reason for this shift to oral communication, I think, is that people are less intrinsically willing to do "little things" in writing that make communication easier and less opaque (or more legible, in the post's terminology.) The example I'm thinking of from my own experience is the "roger" or "message received" confirmation, or lack thereof. In email, Slack, and other writing-first communication channels, the default behavior is not to confirm that you've received a message. In emails, because it's unclear if replying "got it/okay/received" is socially acceptable – or if it isn't, and just adding an unnecessary message to their busy inbox. Slack sort of solves this with the reactions, but even then, enforcing this across all company communication channels feels heavy handed. Compare this to a quick Zoom call / Slack hangout, where I can tell you something and immediately know that you've heard me. I still might need to remind you later, but that's a reminder, not a check to see if you got the message in the first place.

makeitdouble 2y ago
I'm curious about how the actual discussions go. I'm with you in that people default to no reaction (in writing or oral), except when there is an explicit request. In practice there's a ton of Slack messages I write that have no reaction whatsoever, but if they're in a thread with new messages coming after, we can all assume people commenting have read what was said before. That's the basic structure of a conversation. Announcements kind of messages, sent in isolation, are more tricky. But then, if it matters to have a reaction, we get used to explicitely ask for it IMHO (e.g. some event needs to be acknowledged), and it's kinda the same in a real time meeting: you'll also make sure people are listening and understood your announcement, and not doing something else on the side.
- keiferski 2y ago
  ...if they're in a thread with new messages coming after, we can all assume people commenting have read what was said before... IME this actually isn't always the case, especially if it's a busy channel. And so it ends up being more effective to just book a 15 minute Zoom call with someone if you need to actually get their attention, rather than put a message in a channel and/or privately.
  - makeitdouble 2y ago
    That sounds like the kind of reminder we'd do in a weekly team meeting or project review, but you might have different use cases in your mind. In general the cost of having a separate meeting is kinda high (apart from booking the spot, it generally also means an agenda and a transcript)
BeFlatXIII 2y ago
That's why I love emoji reactions so much. You can send acknowledgment without spamming the thread with acknowledgment messages.
joseda-hg 2y ago
Emails in particular are annoying for read receipts, at least on outlook, read confirmations are their own mail, and don't pool so anytime you have to send something with more than a few recipients you're setting yourself to get spammed randomly whenever they feel like it and since it's opt in per mail, you can't actually trust it

makeitdouble 2y ago

I'm curious about how the actual discussions go. I'm with you in that people default to no reaction (in writing or oral), except when there is an explicit request. In practice there's a ton of Slack messages I write that have no reaction whatsoever, but if they're in a thread with new messages coming after, we can all assume people commenting have read what was said before. That's the basic structure of a conversation. Announcements kind of messages, sent in isolation, are more tricky. But then, if it matters to have a reaction, we get used to explicitely ask for it IMHO (e.g. some event needs to be acknowledged), and it's kinda the same in a real time meeting: you'll also make sure people are listening and understood your announcement, and not doing something else on the side.

keiferski 2y ago
...if they're in a thread with new messages coming after, we can all assume people commenting have read what was said before... IME this actually isn't always the case, especially if it's a busy channel. And so it ends up being more effective to just book a 15 minute Zoom call with someone if you need to actually get their attention, rather than put a message in a channel and/or privately.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  That sounds like the kind of reminder we'd do in a weekly team meeting or project review, but you might have different use cases in your mind. In general the cost of having a separate meeting is kinda high (apart from booking the spot, it generally also means an agenda and a transcript)

BeFlatXIII 2y ago

That's why I love emoji reactions so much. You can send acknowledgment without spamming the thread with acknowledgment messages.

joseda-hg 2y ago

Emails in particular are annoying for read receipts, at least on outlook, read confirmations are their own mail, and don't pool so anytime you have to send something with more than a few recipients you're setting yourself to get spammed randomly whenever they feel like it and since it's opt in per mail, you can't actually trust it