Spike, How Effective Is Communicating Online?

An interesting article here on the effectiveness of communicating through email. I think that all the shortcomings/problems with email can also be found in online chatting since the same situations prevail.

Though e-mail is a powerful and convenient medium, researchers have identified three major problems. First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well. Second, the prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. Finally, the inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict.

In effect, e-mail cannot adequately convey emotion. A recent study by Profs. Justin Kruger of New York University and Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago focused on how well sarcasm is detected in electronic messages. Their conclusion: Not only do e-mail senders overestimate their ability to communicate feelings, but e-mail recipients also overestimate their ability to correctly decode those feelings.

Additionally, talking on the phone also lacks the advantage of facial expressions and body language, although some of this does come through, somehow. That is why face-to-face communication is always preferable to electronic medium when discussing difficult or emotional issues.