Sounds silly, but that's the way a lot of us end up if we work in an office. I know most members of this blogging group loves to send e-mails: to make lunch plans, to pass along funny notes or to occasionally make a cutting comment that would seem less appropriate if blurted out in the newsroom. We do this with text messages, too. Obviously.
Now that we’re such an e-mail friendly culture in the office world and beyond, some are starting to rethink our use of it. It used to just be a convenience. But is it a crutch?
A few months ago I got chastised by an editor for sending out an e-mail to the whole newsroom asking if anyone had Super Glue. I didn’t think twice about it because I figured it would be the quickest form of communication to fix a broken part of my cubicle.
The editor did not think so. He told me I should have gone around and individually asked my coworkers to find the sticky stuff because it would help me get to know them.
I see his point, but I wasn’t trying to avoid human contact. Granted, I would certainly not ask for something more important, like an organ donation or anything, over e-mail. But I have to wonder if I might know a few more people better if I wasn’t able to just send out questions like that to the masses.
What about this? When I was a freshmen at LSU I lived in a dorm. Every now and then, when my roommate and I would both be signed on to AIM we would actually send instant messages to each other from 10 feet away in the same room… Now this was usually as a joke, but it just goes to show how little two people who live together or across the hall or street would actually have to communicate verbally if they so chose.
On a freezing night like this, though, I might not cross the hall -- much less the street -- just to chat.
Any thoughts?
A call center in suburban Atlanta has actually institued a no e-mail rule for Fridays. Whoa. Sorry about this long link, but blogger's link function is not working correctly right now.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/JustSayNoToEmail.aspx?GT1=8717
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2 comments:
Wow. How much time would you have wasted going around the entire newsroom to ask everyone in person if they had superglue.
I do realize that, yes, email is frequently used as a crutch for actual human interaction, but spending an hour or whatever hunting down a tube of superglue is a bit much.
Especially whe
Adam, perhaps your editor just didnt realize that you already know everyone well enough to send a newsroom-wide message. I know if it were me, if I didnt know my peers very well, I wouldnt be sending EVERYONE a message asking for something.
I think that request was over-the-top.
I'm actually surprised your employer wants you wasting time wandering aimlessly around your workplace looking for something as silly as a tube of SuperGlue. Priorities people.
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