Mana's Musings

By now it’s no revelation that we’re living in a digital era. 160 character text messages and 140 character tweets have replaced phone calls, letters, and even in-person vists. This is the world we live in; this isn’t a new development any longer.

But every now and then someone will get up on a soapbox and mourn the death of written communication as we know it. Text-speak, they invariably argue, is taking over new generations and rendering today’s youth incapable of communicating in a formal or businesslike manner.

Like, OMGZ! RU srs? Wot do u mean its 2 l8 2 lrn to cmnct?

I can’t help but roll my eyes at the idea of people growing up and truly not comprehending that text-speak isn’t appropriate for anything but the most casual situations. If someone wants to throw a “l8r” and few “OMGs” into a cover letter, great. Consider it a form of career Darwinism.

The problem I have with online communication isn’t that it’s hampering my ability to write – in fact, my problem is quite the opposite.

I’m forgetting how to talk.

I’ve always gravitated toward the written word, well before online networking became our default method of social interaction. Just ask my high school boyfriends who would inevitably receive long, drawn out letters analyzing our relationships in the way only a teenage girl can do, rather than a simple phone call. (Sorry guys).

Then came MSN messenger, and my college days spent sitting in lectures chatting with friends – sometimes in the same class – via IM rather than opening our mouths. This was seven years ago, and from there my reliance on written communication has snowballed. I got a job right out of school where phoning clients was frowned upon. The protocol was to always send an email and copy the VP on the message in order to leave a “paper trail” for all communication. Three years of this left me seasoned in business email writing, and a total novice at verbal communication.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to call up my friends or spend time in person with people from my inner monkey sphere. But when it comes to more challenging, less “social” conversations I’ll sooner write a Facebook message, an email, a tweet, a DM or a forum post before I’ll pick up the phone and call someone. My brain has become wired to appreciate and even expect that precious moment to organize my thoughts that digital communication affords.

So you’ve received an email, a Facebook message, a YouTube comment? Not sure how to reply? That’s perfectly fine! Even in the most time-sensitive situations, people realize these methods are a form of asynchronous communication and an immediate response isn’t expected. Even in instant messaging conversations, meant to be taking place in real time, one has the luxury of waiting a moment or two before replying. There’s no uncomfortable dead air, no ums and ahs and other filler, no nervous babble to fill the silence.

The unsurprising result is now, when I do get on the phone or meet someone in person I feel out of my element. Oh noes! This person just said something that threw me for a loop! Eek, that’s not what I was expecting. Quick, you’ve got five seconds to formulate a perfect response before the silence becomes deafening.

I think verbal communication is like pretty much any other skill – use it or lose it. I finished school and entered a world where digital communication was already king, and as a result I never really took the time to nurture verbal communication in the way someone would have been forced to even 15 years ago. This overdependency on the written word stands to cause problems in situations where a phone call or a face-to-face meeting would actually be more appropriate, despite not being my go-to method of communicating. But on the other hand, the ability to communicate clearly through text-based means has served me well.

And I can’t help but wonder – why aren’t they teaching this in high school? Why is it that everyone needs to know the ins and outs of quadratic equations, but no attention is paid to balancing all the different methods of communication one needs to embrace in order to be successful in 2010?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an email to write, some texts to reply to, and mailing list to read. Ttfn and c all u ppl l8r.