Golden Rules of Communication - Tip #5

Golden Rules of Communication – 20 Trust Building Tips in the Age of Distraction
5. Before you send that next email or text, think again … how about a phone call? Jerry Seinfeld said, as only he can: “Talking is over – it’s obsolete, it’s antiquated. When you get an email or a text, the message is: I could have called you and I chose not to. I only wanted to hear my half of the conversation!”
In Alone Together, author Sherry Turkle interviewed a thirteen-year-old who “hates the phone and never listens to voice mail … for her, texting puts people not too close, not too far, but at just the right distance.” Turkle also talked to Elaine, seventeen, who said, “When you can think about what you’re going to say, you can talk to someone you’d have trouble talking to. And it doesn’t seem weird that you pause for two minutes to think about what you’re going to say before you say it, like it would be if you were actually talking to someone.”
In Digital Dharma (2007), author Steven Vedro talks about the telephone’s social intimacy, inviting deep, authentic, emotional connection. I am privileged to know Francis Rothluebber, spiritual teacher, author and founder of New Momentum for Human Unity, who stated: “Sound is Being.” Think about what we miss without the opportunity to connect with a person’s voice. Phone calls also force you to be more present and really listen to the person. And, because phone calls are now more infrequent, there’s a good chance that your call won’t get lost in the digital noise.

Noreen Kelly

Coaching

Golden Rules of Communication – Tip #5