Is Faster . . . For Better or for Worse
Humans have, of course, have been communicating over millennia. What's new, as we've just discussed, is the pace of change today with respect to language and communication.
Way back in 130,000 BCE, early people shared their experiences and documented primitive life via cave paintings through pigments made from fruit and berry juice.
Much later, about 1440, human communication took a giant leap forward with the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in France, giving rise to books and other written communication, while effectively standardizing spelling and punctuation.
As literacy grew, it became possible to pen a letter to a loved one and have it delivered by stagecoach and later by mail courier. In the 20th century, radio, newspapers, and television drove more innovation in language.
But think again about the pace of these innovations. Just 40 years ago—before the use of email became widespread in the 1990s—we expected to wait five days for a letter to reach someone across the country. Unless, of course, we paid for expedited delivery through FedEx or a similar service.
Xerox introduced fax machines as early as 1964, but they didn't really take off in corporate America until the late 1980s. And, although plenty of companies still use them, many are increasingly using Cloud-based fax services, which create images or PDF files to be sent over email. (And thank goodness for that. Nobody wants to sort through the pile of faxes on slippery paper at the office looking for the missing page as we once did.)
But the internet has changed all that. It's sped up communication even as it has forgone the importance of syntax in favor of a return to character-based communication. It is hard to ignore the irony of thousands of years of advances from cave paintings as a form of written communication to the use of the emoji today.
Although it's true that language has always been dynamic, with colloquialisms going in and out of vogue, this development is revolutionary throughout history. Texting means that you will receive a communication instantaneously with an instantaneous response expected.
So we've moved from books on a printing press to television to fax to email to texts . . . condensing the time frame of communication from years to weeks to days to immediately. And that is changing the world of work in some pretty surprising and unintentional ways.
One unfortunate side effect of the texting revolution—when texting is primary and email is a back-up communication solution—is that expectations of response time have ratcheted up alarmingly.
It's not uncommon for attorneys I know to get seven texts from a client or a colleague in a single hour they spend in a meeting or on a conference call. When those seven texts aren't answered within that 60-minute time frame, an email follow-up will arrive soon afterwards asking, “Did you get my text?”
As harried workers try to respond by text, email, and phone (while attending a videoconference on their watch), this has repercussions for the degree to which we are offering useful ideas with our divided focus at meetings or with clients.
If you're working on a complex task or trying to thoughtfully solve a difficult dilemma, you will likely be repeatedly interrupted by everyone from your spouse wanting to make dinner plans and the plumber you're trying to schedule, to clients and coworkers. The fact is: it's no longer okay to be “unreachable.”
One the one hand, the rapid pace of communication is a wonderful thing. In the face of globalization, it's made the world smaller. Our abbreviated texts and single-line emails are frequently an efficient and useful response to globalization in a busy world.
On the other hand, this phenomenon contributes to a conflict-avoidant culture. Just think about the “ghosting” phenomenon on the rise today, when millennials signal their disinterest in a friend or new love interest by essentially ignoring the text. It contributes to social disconnection that is bleeding into the workforce. How ironic that so much “connectivity” in our modern era is actually leading to less connection in real life.
The Rise of Social Media
First there was America Online or AOL (Are you old enough to remember the sound of the modem connecting when you logged on?), which seeded our universal addiction to internet connectivity with the beginning of Yahoo's online chat forums and early email.
This was followed in the early 2000s by a bevy of websites ratcheting up our connectivity and taking social media from a nerdy techno-babbling hobby into mainstream daily communication for most of us. There was Friendster (for making friends, obviously), Classmates.com (for alumni), LinkedIn (for work contacts), and Myspace, the social precursor to Facebook.
Today, Facebook, which was originally concepted for networking among college students. has grown into a prolific and widely used social media network with 1.3 billion active users since it debuted in 2006. Then, of course, there is also Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and Google+ with their own unique value propositions for users. TikTok, a video-sharing network, has also recently joined the ranks.
This has all resulted in a barrage of emoji use by all. Cute icons that are angry, teary, anxious, and laughing are everywhere in our communications today.
What you may not be aware of, though, is that how we communicate—and whether we are comfortable with this type of common shorthand at work—determines the degree to which we remain relevant and valued at work.
Science Fiction Can't Keep Up
Of all the ways the world is changing faster than ever, technology may be one of the most striking trends to consider. Aside from social media, it's had an oversized impact on virtually (pun intended) everything we do.
Just consider the rise of Apple. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs took to the stage and introduced the iPhone: Apple's vision for the modern cell phone. The device sported a large touchscreen, featured a simple, easy-to-navigate interface, and placed the internet and a camera into the pocket of consumers worldwide.
The industry was ripe for disruption because the market was dominated by “clam-shell” phones that were not optimized for the creation or consumption of media or browsing the internet. Although some manufacturers produced cell phones that could be used for these purposes, they relied on small screens, physical keyboards, unreliable trackballs, and low-resolution cameras. This all changed the moment Jobs walked up on the stage.
In the years following the iPhone's unveiling, the smartphone industry's response to Apple was nothing short of breathtaking. Smartphone manufacturers, including electronic behemoth Samsung, released a flurry of new devices to combat the iPhone's prowess . . . delivering innovative new features such as wireless charging, curved screens, mobile payment options, and improved photography. Other companies, such as Google, were also spurred to create their own smartphone operating systems and larger technological ecosystems.
In Ireland alone, where Apple's European headquarters is located, iPhone exports were responsible for one-quarter of the country's economic growth.
In South Korea, exports of semiconductors (a key component in smartphone production) accounted for 17.1% of all of the country's exports. As you can see, smartphone innovation has benefited far more than just consumers. Rather, it's been an engine of economic growth worldwide. And that's just one example of technology reshaping our world, including the world of work.
Recently, I had a conversation with an Uber driver—a ride-sharing concept that
