Opus 2014-213: Hang Ups

Why do I prefer e-mail to the telephone?

When my wife wants to make sure a task does not get done she asks me to do something that involves making a phone call.  I hate telephones.  She decided it was because the doctor told me that my hearing was going in the frequencies that are common on phones.  I will let her have that one but it is much deeper.  There are times I wish I could communicate with her through e-mail instead of talk.  Why, you say?

Telephones are intrusive.  They butt in and demand attention.  You can learn to ignore them but the noise still breaks your train of thought and is very irritating.  I can even adjust to that but people around me start getting fidgety if I don’t pick up.  I can chose when to check my e-mail and answer as I see fit.  Telephones put the caller in charge.  E-mail puts me in control.

Telephones do not give time for a measured reply.  People want an answer right now.  Sometimes you end up speaking from ignorance or anger.  Later you wish you had put it differently.  With e-mail you have time to think about how to say what is important.  You can check your facts.  You can cool off.

Telephones are usually not recorded.  I don’t know how many times I have been misquoted by people who claim, “You said...”  Many times what they claim I said is something that I would never have said because I don’t talk that way and it goes against everything I have ever stood for.  An e-mail gives me a record of what was actually communicated.  It is a tool of truth. 

E-mail can be skimmed.  I know you are not verbose but some people take paragraphs to express one word.  I often wish I could put some people on fast forward so we could get to the point.

I can talk on the phone.  I can also eat sushi.  It does not mean I like it.  It does not keep me from avoiding it. 

Do I need to expand about cell phones?

homo unius libri