Why do people 'chat' with coworkers across the hall?
Why do we IM people instead of calling them on the phone?
Why do we put up with the spelling mistakes, the poor grammar, the inability to use facial expressions?
I think it's because of the tremendous advantages of introducing just a bit of asynchronicity to the conversation.
When somebody asks you a question in person, you are on the spot. You have to answer right away. You maybe get half a second to 'compose your thoughts' -- but you don't really get to compose your thoughts.
And what if they're away from their desk? You don't have to remember to ask them again later. The question remains, until they return and answer it. And if you're not around to catch the reply, why, it waits until you return.
When somebody asks you a question over IM, you can think about an answer. You can type a reply, see how it looks, edit it, or even delete it and begin anew, before you send it.
Further, the vaunted 90% of communication that happens non-verbally is actually a great hindrance to many people. We don't know how to control all of that 90%. We may not have worn our best shirt, or we may be out of breath. Maybe we had onions for lunch.
None of that matters over an IM session. The message becomes the message -- not the mass of other signals we send in person. The 'noise' of our personal presence is removed from the signal, and we can communicate much more precisely.
I'm not going to develop the idea much more now, but IM sessions can also be recorded and referenced quickly and easily. You can't 'search' through the history of conversations you've had with another person in real life.
Is this better than email?
Chat is, essentially, email. The underlying premise is exactly the same -- the benefits highlighted only by the increased permission we give to 'chat' to occupy a share of our workspace.
So will chat take over our lives?
Quite probably. Run while you still can!
Comments (2)
" The 'noise' of our personal presence is removed from the signal, and we can communicate much more precisely."
I think, however, non-verbal communication is so integrated into our current communication process that it is currently relied upon. With IM (or email), we lose the non-verbal cues that exist when we talk face-to-face. I don't know about you, but this has caused me grief in the past. I've sent an email out before to numerous people, those that knew me thought the email was great, those that weren't familiar with who I was thought I was being disrespectful.
Anyhow, I think that as more and more people start using IM and email, I think that you will start to see more and more non-verbal cues integrated into the conversation.
Posted by Nathan | September 11, 2005 5:26 PM
Posted on September 11, 2005 17:26
Nathan, that's an interesting example -- the misread email. Would those same people who felt your email was disrespectful have misconstrued your comments in "real life?"
A definite advantage of face-to-face communication is that you get feedback *while you speak* (if you're smart enough to pick up on it and correctly interpret it). With chat, you have to send an entire, discrete message before you get a response. Email, even more so. So you can't adjust a message on-the-fly, below the smallest increment.
What I'm suggesting, I guess, is that in real life, people would have responded to your message the same way, until you saw that and started adjusting your presentation of the message. To the extent that all communication requires a pre-negotiated relationship, chat and email are risky to strangers because of the delayed feedback.
In an environment where you have an existing relationship with someone, a line you type can be conveyed to them in the context of that relationship and carry much more meaning. If the person knows you tend to be sarcastic, for instance, you can get away with typing outrageous statements that will be correctly interpreted.
In the absence of that type of relationship (or where you are sending a message that runs counter to the typical parameters of the relationship -- say, something that might sound sarcastic but you really mean it) you have to be a much more careful writer.
So the question boils down to: are you a better writer, or a better speaker? The answer to that may well determine how much you like chat.
Posted by Tom | September 14, 2005 8:54 AM
Posted on September 14, 2005 08:54