Of Emails and Mobiles

“But, I sent you the mail in the morning” howled my colleague on the cell phone.

“I am sure you did, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it. I have been busy preparing for tomorrow’s client meeting.”

“But, this is urgent. How can you not check your mails for 3 hours?” he continued. I could visualize the expression of agony on his face as he spoke.

“I generally don’t check emails when I am busy with something. It tends to distract me. Besides, if it is so important you can always call. That’s what mobiles are meant for.” The grunt at the other end of the line gave me a feeling that my ideas are not being received well.

This is a conversation that I have with a colleague almost every week. I believe a number of readers may not appreciate the opinion I have on this subject. So let me take an opportunity to explain my point of view in greater detail.

Two developments in the world of communication have changed the way we work and live our lives in the last 15 years – Emails and mobile phones. Both the means allow us to reach others at a pace which was the stuff of science fiction just 30 years back. Yet, there is a key difference between the two. One is an Asynchronous means of communication while the other is a synchronous mode. So when you send out an email there is no way to make sure that your intended recipient of the email has actually received the email and is working on the same unless the recipient chooses to inform you. In fact you can never be sure as to when he will actually look at the email. And this could be due to a variety of reasons. He could be ill and not at work, he may be travelling or he may be simply too busy to check emails. There is usually more to work than just responding to emails. A lot of us seem to have forgotten this simple fact. There are cases where you want an immediate response and fret over the fact that the recipient has not done so. Well, guess what? The recipient is on a flight across the Atlantic and will not be able to check mails for five hours and you are not even aware.

There is no doubt that emails have changed the way in which we communicate for business or personal reasons. However, they have also resulted in increased stress faced by executives who make the mistake of treating it as a synchronous mode of communication. A mobile phone is a better tool to use when you want to get in touch with people instantaneously.

It’s interesting to look back and see how life was without a mobile phone till a few years back. One could get in touch with people only when they were either in office or at home. I remember I would fix up a meeting with my girlfriend on weekends and then reach the destination at the appointed time and wait there for her. There are times she would be late by almost an hour. I had no choice but to wait.



Now, I tend to get irritated if my wife is a few minutes late and does not pick up her mobile when I am calling to check. Most people consider it reasonable to expect people to pick up their mobile phones at any time of the day when. I have seen people flood their acquaintances with continuous calls if there is no response. It’s become difficult to imagine staying away from the phone even for few minutes. In a recent meeting at our office most team members were wary of switching off their mobile phones for a workshop lasting a couple of hours.

I am not trying to run down the benefits of that these devices have obviously brought in our lives. The attempt is to present different view of the impact they have on us. I have seen people get highly stressed up when they do not receive an immediate response to their email or in a situation when their colleague does not pick up the mobile. One tends to build up a whole lot of anger within oneself and form opinions on the other person’s reasons for not responding. I have even seen bosses getting offended when subordinates do not pick up their phones. I am sure that is the kind of stress we all have been through at some point in our life while using these devices.

Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind while using emails or mobiles based on my experience

Allow the receiver of the email sufficient time to respond. This depends on his/her work schedule. If it’s very urgent call up and ask for a quick response.
Try to explain things in sufficient details for the receiver to respond effectively. It reduces too much of email exchange on the same subject
Do not send too many emails to the same person. Try and consolidate everything that you need in a single email.
If out of office for a long time try and configure an auto responder to your email for people trying to get in touch with you
Everyone has a right to not pick up the mobile when in a meeting or in middle of something important.
If its very urgent leave a voice mail or send a SMS
Configure a voice mail on your mobile number so that people trying to reach you have some way to let you know how desperate they are.
Pick up that phone if someone is calling repeatedly at any time in the day. It must be important.

Let me conclude the post with the mention of the only person I know who works in an administrative position in a company but does not bother to keep a mobile phone. He says “I have an office job. I don’t need to travel much. So I can be reached either at home or at office phone numbers. The only time I am not reachable is when I am driving to home or work. I don’t need a mobile.”

Well, he is one of the happiest and stress free persons I know and he is doing fairly well in life.