Communication

"In the good old days" we used to pick up the phone and talk to people, or, in the case of the huge corporation I work for, walk over to each other's offices/cubes and talk face to face. These days, we use internal messengers, email and even the dreaded text messages. We use these tools to our advantage and they make life a lot easier. How many times would you rather just shoot a quick note than start a long conversation with most people? And we are all guilty of using the path of least resistance in dealing with those who aggravate or annoy us...

Now, I am as 'guilty' as the next guy, I would rather IM most people than have to deal with long drawn out conversations about nothing. And I love IMing to get my frustrations out to those few people who need a laugh or have the ability to make me laugh. However, I don't abbreviate or use the 'text' language - do we not still have keyboards right in front of us? Stop being so lazy people!

I am still very much a phone person too - but prefer phone calls in the call when I don't have to worry about who is listening over cube walls and it gives me something to do other than entertaining the masses by singing and dancing on the road. And right now, I am dealing with something at work where it is safer for all parties that I don't answer this person's call until they chill out. Just ask the aforementioned IM friend who can make me laugh.

Here's the rub - how funny is it that people still find silly reasons, and maybe no reason at all, to come talk to each other face to face. Be it, some minor thing at work that could be handled via the phone or even yelling over a cube wall that is used as the excuse to plop yourself down in their cube, or the need for a cup of coffee just to get away from the computer and see another human? I am a people person - I love people, the interactions, the different opinions, the various places in life each individual is in with regards to their life. It doesn't surprise me that I like to deal with most situations face-to-face, I seem to learn better that way. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that more and more people are using the face-to-face randomly during the day, just to prove we all still work with other people?

Funny thing about this - an old and dear friend who I have worked with at 3 different career points - just stopped by and we talked, face to face for an hour. And it was great.