E-mail generally increases the likelihood of conflict and miscommunication..Oh No!

I was not too surprised to see this article in the New York Times Sunday talking about the effects of email in the workplace.

The article states "New findings have uncovered a design flaw at the interface where the brain encounters a computer screen: there are no online channels for the multiple signals the brain uses to calibrate emotions."

"When we talk, my brain’s social radar picks up that hint of stridency in your voice and automatically lowers my own tone of exasperation, all in the service of working things out. But when we send e-mail, there’s little to nothing by way of emotional valence to pick up. E-mail lacks those channels for the implicit meta-messages that, in a conversation, provide its positive or negative spin."

This is nothing new or too surprising-- I guess in the workplace we just have to learn how to not read too deeply into emails and remember, words don't carry emotion.

I think Shirky put it best when he said “social software” like e-mail “is not better than face-to-face contact; it’s only better than nothing.”