It continuously interests and bewilders me that with such rapid advancements in communications technology that people are still unable to communicate effectively. Mostly, it isn’t really about Technology per se, it is about Communication.
Often, I’ve sent emails that were never replied. Emails sent but badly replied, completely missing the points. Or, the ultimatum of Bad Email Communications – Email sent, not replied but Action taken with totally erroneous understanding.
Most youngsters (though I’m one myself) have this fixation on SMS-ing/text-ing/messaging (depending on which part of the world you’re from) and they seem to love to communicate everything with short messages (which I’ll now call ‘SMS’). Granted that SMS is great for leaving a note or chatting up with the cute chick/hunk you just met 5 minutes ago, it’s not for conducting a discussion.
It’s not a tool for discussion. It’s not a tool for discussing projects with moving targets. It’s not meant for anything that can’t fit in 160 characters.
And I haven’t mentioned how I dread typing English on a numeric keypad. Even with T9 Predictive Text, it’s still a major chore. Factor in the strange, Singapore style of SMS/text/message lingo and you’ve a text message in perfectly legible Roman characters that requires far more than a modern day living Rosetta stone to translate.
And our Singaporean youth seems to carry those bad habits from their texting routine into emails and instant messages.
In order to encourage better communication between people, I hereby list down what I’ve learnt after years of bad experiences.
Kelvin Quee’s 5 Rules for Effective Electronic Communications
In order of importance:
1) Use the phone. To be precise, use the VOICE function of the phone.
The only exception is when you suspect that the person might be occupied or the Action only needs to be taken after a long time.
2) Are you sure you cannot use the VOICE function of the phone? See Point 1.
3) You are going to TEXT? No! Can you send an Email instead? When you send a email, please ensure you put in a meaningful Subject line. Oh yes, there’s a Subject line function available! Please type in English and use proper punctuation too. Thank you.
Email takes too long? Then you should probably CALL. See Point 1.
4) Are you sure you cannot use the VOICE function of the phone? See Point 1. No? Okay. What about Email? See Point 3. Email is too slow and a Call is too intrusive? This is probably the only time you should then use a SMS.
5) So we see that you have to use SMS. Alright, please exercise your articulation prowess with care and express yourself clearly and fully within 160 characters. Use English. Thank you. Are you sure you can’t just CALL? See Point 1.
I never was a good Communicator. I’m far from perfect. Still, I learn from bad experiences and I’ve learn that we should use the Right Tool for the Right Job. Get the point across, get things done quickly and move on.
There’s more to life than spending Time on correcting mistakes due to a badly written Text Message.