The Polliwog Journal

Daniel Goleman, author of Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, says in the New York Times, October 2007:

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.

Face-to-face interaction, by contrast, is information-rich. We interpret what people say to us not only from their tone and facial expressions, but also from their body language and pacing, as well as their synchronization with what we do and say.

Most crucially, the brain’s social circuitry mimics in our neurons what’s happening in the other person’s brain, keeping us on the same wavelength emotionally. This neural dance creates an instant rapport that arises from an enormous number of parallel information processors, all working instantaneously and out of our awareness.

In contrast to a phone call or talking in person, e-mail can be emotionally impoverished when it comes to nonverbal messages that add nuance and valence to our words. The typed words are denuded of the rich emotional context we convey in person or over the phone.

I have always wanted to believe that our emotion does come through in e-mail. Maybe I should revise that belief. I do believe tone is evident in the written word, but I can see what Goleman is saying. If my brain is searching for clues that aren’t there, it can’t process or use them and I will be lacking important information for effective interpersonal communication.

Also, not everyone writes e-mail with tone in mind.

I have been a member of an e-mail listserv for over eight years. I know that I relate emotionally better to those on the list that I have met in person. Their posts evoke their faces. But we have developed a long time relationship through e-mail primarily.

Maybe the day to day work of doing business can be less effective when communication is limited to e-mail. This article is really thought provoking.