Though email, text messaging and other instant, virtual modes of communication are undeniably groundbreaking innovations, they are not always the most conducive to sparking innovation themselves.
A recent article in The Atlantic argues that while sending an email may be the more convenient option when making plans or troubleshooting an issue, simply picking up the phone is almost always more effective.
"People are asking questions, probing, asking follow-up questions [in a discussion]," Guhan Subramanian, chair of Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation, explained to the outlet. "It's obviously a lot easier to do when you're over the phone or in person, compared to by email or text."
Phone calls also ensure clearer, more direct communication. "Over email, the message that's received may not be the same as the message that's sent," Mr. Subramanian said.
Beyond these benefits unique to phone calls, voice conversations may also steal what many believe to be email and text messaging's crowning achievement: "The assumption that convenience means written, quick communication is a thing that needs to be challenged," Jonathan Gerkin, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine," told The Atlantic.
Read more here.
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