Discussion on:

Email: Middle aged and still going strong

As an employee in an IT intensive company, I never use IM - it only works if the other participants are available, which is an identical situation to the requirements of a phone conversation. I vastly prefer talking on the phone to typing a message so I never use IM in business and only very rarely socially. As for social media, the less contact I have with it, the better; it's so full of utter garbage and triviality that it takes a lot of searching to extricate the wheat from the chaff. As for 'push' v 'pull', I can email a group with a request if I want to pull information, so email can be used for 'push' or 'pull'. So my conclusion is that the only communication tools I need (or can see other business users needing) are telephone and email. IM and Social Media IMHO have no place in business other that to give the impression that a business is 'trendy' or 'uses the latest technology', regardless of how inappropriate these systems are for business use.

Good for sending code, or avoiding trying to understand heavy accents.

but it is still quite handy! You can even use most IM clients, such as AIM,
Yahoo Messenger, etc, to send SMS messages to cellphones. That was
the only method I had for years since I never owned a cellphone til about
5 years ago.

I've been fortunate in never encountering heavy accents in business but you've got a very valid point in favour of IM there. As for sending code, I use email.

Just an ad for an upcoming white paper. We'll have forgotten about this by the time the white paper is released.

And what's with the bit about sick days and muscle disorders.

Hi Charles,
The sick leave data is interesting (at least to me) because stress is one of the top ten causes of absenteeism. Information overload and RSI in turn are two of the major causes of stress. With email and social media on the increase it is my experience that first, many people are drowning in information (well at least data) and need help to prioritise. Second, we spend more and more time computer dealing with all this stuff and hence the increased risk and incidences of RSI.

As to the white paper - well yes, it was a plug for it!

Will make sure my next column is plug free.

Best wishes for 2013.

but if the only reason for the article is to advertise, well, I can get that on late night TV.

Why plug a white paper that isn't going to be available for several weeks yet? By the time it's released, no one is going to remember this article. If you wait until it's released, the source document will be available if anyone wants to check the statistics and methodology.

The reason for writing is to share my thinking. The plug for the white paper was to give the article credibility in terms of saying there is a foundation to my thinking.

Hi wizard57m

Thanks for the input about sending IM as SMS. I am not a true geek (more of a people, process and culture person) as you have realised. So technical know how is always welcome.

Best wishes for 2013.

higher priority to deal with first and respond to. The problem with a lot of the social media stuff is you lose way too much of the day in having the systems scream for your attention all the time.