Thursday, December 2, 2010

Remember This?

Behold the phone.

Remember when this was our primary means of communication? We actually picked up the phone and called people when we needed to say something. We'd chat and laugh and share stories. We'd spend a few minutes getting to know one another, do a little business, then make up a good excuse to hang up. All was good back then.

Today we all seem to be overly inundated with texts, IMs, emails, LinkedIn messages, and Facebook posts. Electronica killed the Phone-ica star. It is just faster and easier to type and text than it is to make a phone call. Yet easier and faster shouldn't justify the end of personal human connections.

In the last week, two people cold called me out of the blue. And I have to say, it was so nice.

One, a local designer I didn't know and two, a junior art director from Humber College. Both said they were in the middle of typing me a note when they thought "why not call?"

It makes you forget how nice a simple human connection is until you get people saying they chose calling over writing. It also makes you feel a bit special that they chose to call you over write you. Next time you have the choice (and the time), pick up the phone. Establishing a new business relationship hearing someone's voice makes a difference. You can text and type all you want from there on out.

2 comments:

Jeff Kwiatek said...

This week I've talked to two people on the phone that I previously only knew through twitter. One was you!

I have to say that actually getting to talk to someone totally changes the relationship and it's totally worth reaching out to strangers.

Unknown said...

Yup, sometimes the old-fashioned method of actually speaking to someone beats out all other forms of communication - especially in recruiting!