Communication Casualties

I value good communication. It was a key factor in my scientific career a few decades ago. If I didn't communicate clearly with fellow researchers or our sponsors, I could soon find myself out of work. The results of my findings had to be passed on to others, or else my career ground to a halt.

I no longer do scientific research. My communication these days is mostly on a personal basis, with friends, family, and various organizations. I find that effective communication is often lacking in these exchanges. I find myself frequently wondering, for example, why I have received no response to a message I've sent.

A big part of my disconnect with others, I believe, is that I'm rather old fashioned. I'm just not “with the program.” A few decades ago I mostly communicated with others (when not using the telephone) via what now is dubbed as “snail mail.” I'd send a missive in the form of a card or letter. I had confidence that the postal service would deliver my mail. I knew that my recipient would then have something tangible in hand (a letter) that would be placed on their desk, to remind them over the ensuing days to respond. I did not expect a quick response; after all, this was snail mail! Most every time, I'd sooner or later get a reply, but in the meantime, I didn't hold my breath.

Then email entered the communication arena. We now compose a message, and at the speed of light it is delivered. If the recipient happens to be at the computer (or now, smart phone) when the missive arrives, I may get a reply within minutes. So much faster! We have come to expect speedy responses.

But there's a couple of major differences between snail mail and email, that dramatically changed the game. First, my recipient's email box may contain dozens, if not a few hundred messages, bedsides mine. Thus mine can easily get lost in the crowd—as it no longer sits conspicuously and singularly on their desk, demanding attention. Second, I cannot have as much confidence that my email message will arrive and be acknowledged, as I could in the old, snail-mail days. Email is simply not as reliable. Some emails vanish in the ether. Some get sent to my recipient's junk mail box—after having been selected by some algorithm as being rubbish, with no knowledge of this action on either of our parts. We are at the mercy of algorithms!

And now many people live in the world of text messages. They make email look slow. Texts must be brief, thus they can be composed in a few moments. Send a text and people expect a response within matter of a couple of minutes.

My snail mail experiences have become virtually obsolete. My preferred means of communication are vanishing. It feels more and more as if people no longer communicate very well at all—despite all the available social media. There is a mistaken assumption that speed and frequency promote communication, when in fact, like the juggler who has put too many balls in the air, a few are bound to be dropped. The quantity of messages does not imply quality.