How many pionof facebook kils face to face conversation
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Not so long ago, meetings were a staple of working life, but a recent survey conducted by technology market research firm Radicati reports that ‘pinging’ over a message is now the most popular way to communicate in business.
It is easy to see why. Not only is it fast, but the response you receive is often more concise, saving time that could have been wasted by sitting through a marathon conference. Just sum it up in an email, please.
Reliance on technology extends to our homes and schools. The dinner table, once the stronghold of family discussion, has been invaded by the mobile devices which saturate society. Teenagers have one eye on Facebook while parents try and fail to strike up a conversation. Texting in class is common, despite attempts by teachers to ban or integrate mobile technology into their lessons.
But do these signs in our professional and domestic lives point to a conversational apocalypse, where talking face-to-face has been made extinct by smartphones and tablets?
Or is this merely the natural progression in a multi-media age, where technology has opened up new and exciting ways to communicate to people around the world?
‘The art of conversation isn’t dead yet – it’s just that we now have more of an excuse not to speak to people face-to-face any more,’ said Marc Chacksfield, deputy editor at TechRadar.com.
‘If you are in a pub and the conversation wanes, the sad fact is that it’s more likely you will reach for your phone than try and come up with something interesting to say. A few years ago this would have been seen as the ultimate sign of rudeness but checking your phone has now become socially acceptable because everyone is doing it.’
In a professional environment, Chacksfield says that speaking through a screen has its pros and cons.
‘In my job, a lot of my external communication is done through email as I can control who I respond to that way. When I am interviewing someone, though, I always like to speak to them in person. There are nuances in speech that will never come across over email or text, no matter how many emoticons you use, and that is essential when you want to get something unique and interesting for a story.’