Online Dis-Connectedness

Seems like the more we move in this digital age to online connectedness the more we become solitary in our efforts. We sit crouched behind a laptop staring at the screen for hours on end typing messages to people on twitter, facebook, IM, or email (depending on your medium of choice). It seems every year I do less face to face communication and more i-communication. It’s a bad crutch especially for someone like me who feels awkward, weird, and flustered when I do try to talk to a real person. I feel the geek warning lights going off when I realize I do have to talk to someone instead of figuring out the solution on my own. That’s what we’d all like to do, right? We’d like to solve all our problems on our own and feel self-sufficient.

However, the more experienced I become in technical communication the more I realize for me that collaboration and communication with others is the key to understanding. There are too many obstacles interfering with real understanding in the digital world. For example, I may be writing documentation for a new feature. Before I can write, I have to understand. To understand, I often rely on conversations with the person who designed the feature, the quality assurance analyst testing the feature, the developer who wrote the code, and other technical writers on my team. I go to other team members quite frequently just to have them read what I’ve written because they make a great test audience. If they can learn based on what I wrote, I may be on the right track.

However, every time I realize I don’t understand something and I need to talk to one of the people above I feel unsure. I ask myself if I really need help. I read and re-read my notes thinking clarity will jump out at me. And then, instead of asking the question in person in a conversation I send an email. That one email turns into a series of replies back and forth all day long and I'm not sure the answer is easily obtained or understood well.

So why do we retract from a seemingly simple solution? Why do we avoid each other? The more I think about this problem the more I realize if we collaborated more we’d break down these barriers that computers have put up around us. I feel lucky in that on my team we do a lot of cross collaboration but I don’t think it’s that way for everyone. It’s certainly more difficult across teams.

I’m just wondering, are other people feeling that the communication age is creating barriers to understanding? Do we need to email less and talk more? Do we even have the time to talk? And if we do collaborate in person, how do we capture that knowledge created?

Here’s a quick mental test. Think back over the past 30 days or even the last 7. When you didn’t understand something, what did you do? Did you try to figure out a solution on your own? Email someone? Call someone? Or, did you actually talk to someone in person?

Email is my default answer. I use it as a substitute to a conversation because it feels less intrusive. They can answer me on their terms. I wonder how ineffective I am and what I can do to change.

Do you feel disconnected even when you are connected?