The other day I was talking to a colleague who has just begun their career about how when I began to work there was no email and personal mobile phones were just beginning. They looked at me in utter disbelief and said ..”but how did you communicate then?” While feeling like a dinosaur, I replied that although it seems unbelievable, we picked up a phone & called someone! “Wow they said, proper old school”. I chuckled about being “old school” for a while afterwards.

I watched later that day as this colleague endeavoured to painstakingly explain an issue, first by email and then they proceeded to use instant messaging to badger the person! I was like this poor soul, if this messaging ping-pong continues they will be there until midnight explaining this stuff, it’s never going to end, even worse the poor soul on the other end must be losing their mind by now.

I had been resisting the temptation to interfere, however at some point I referred to our earlier conversation and said, “you know what.. maybe going old school is ok sometimes, why don’t you pick up the phone? Maybe just having a chat human to human could help?”

A short conversation with some empathy and mutual listening later and there was no more issue. When I asked why they had not picked up the phone earlier… the response amused me… “well, you know, I just didn’t want to bother them!!”

Funny how we perceive calling someone as being intrusive, yet sending multiple written communications is ok?

I continued to wonder for the rest of the day about this and question whether I was doing the same these days. Case in point, this blog!! Maybe time to have a word with myself rather than wondering about other folks…just off to call an old friend now instead of messaging them!

Post Note : I felt the need to add an additional point here after a great friend highlighted how phone interactions, especially unexpected ones can be challenging or uncomfortable for them, perhaps due to social anxiety, introversion or a feeling of intrusion. It made me start to reflect how it can be less intrusive and more useful/thoughtful for folks in that situation….and how just how different we all are..