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Story URL: http://comment.silicon.com/0,39024711,11034495,00.htm

Living with a modern mix of communications
Is it really good to talk?

By editorial@silicon.com

Published: Wednesday 10 July 2002

Old communications technologies don't die.

No, this isn't the start of a joke but a truth worth sharing with makers and marketeers of the latest and greatest products. That's because there are many in their ranks who wrongly assume a new form of communication will kill off the one that went before.

If so email would have killed off the fax, the fax the phone and the phone the postal service. Oh, and the internet would have destroyed paper.

The fact that none of these things have happened hardly seems surprising now (look around your office for proof of that) but it does help explain why some are disappointed with the initial take-up of new and 'revolutionary' technologies.

It's why the mobile phone took 15 years longer than the operators hoped to become a 'must-have' device and why 3G advocates are a little optimistic if they think third-generation telephony will take off next year. Users need time to see what the new medium gives them the old ones do not and - significantly - what the old ones continue to provide.

It's rare to find a mobile user who has ditched the fixed line. Equally, 'Dusty fax machines are still getting some love' (http://www.silicon.com/a54481) is a nice headline but is unlikely to be a shock to anyone who works in an office.

Debunking the communications myth is important too for those who mistakenly attempt to blame the apparent demise of one form of interaction on the emergence of another (see: 'Ban email, work harder?' http://www.silicon.com/a54491 ).

With the possible exception of smoke signals, we continue to use every messaging device ever created. When something new and relevant - such as email or text messaging - comes along we add it to our box of tools and pick the one that works for the job in hand.

Decision-making and decision taking? Face-to-face or telephone call win every time. Information sharing? Email or SMS. Formal confirmation? Letter or fax. Sometimes two-way suits, other times one-way communication is quicker and more efficient.

Email isn't responsible for social regression in the workplace. If staff don't talk as much as they used to it's probably an idea to find out if they really need to. Face-to-face matters but it doesn't have the monopoly on good communication.