(no subject)

[cellio]

Telephones are just about the worst way to have a conversation. In writing (ok, email), I can carefully consider my words and get a reply that (I hope) is also carefully considered. Face to face, I can monitor the other person's reactions to what I'm saying and be clued in fairly quickly if I'm giving an impression other than the one I meant. Phones are real-time and non-visual -- the worst of both worlds.

Phones are for making queries, conveying information, syncing with other people on short notice, etc. They are not for real conversations. I wish more people believed that.

Comments

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

For me, the real time component of the telephone can be a problem sometimes. E-mail doesn't have that problem and even things like AIM have it to a lesser extent. There is also and extra level of separation (or at least it feels that way) between you and the person you are trying to communicate with when using e-mail or AIM. Maybe that level is the extra delay time, I'm not sure. However, I find that I have a much better idea of what the other person is thinking over the phone due to tone. With e-mail and AIM, I find myself projecting my thoughts onto the other person's responses all too often and that interferes with effective communication. I don't do that with phone conversations (well, I don't do it as long as I am actually conscious for the phone conversation). That said, I end up using typing methods of communication more frequently because they are 'easier,' probably due to the extra level of separation.