One of these really interesting articles: The end of the office phone call

I find things like this interesting. Have you noticed how much of your communication takes place 'off-phone'? Email, IM and textinghave replaced many short-form phone calls. I get more texts and IM's these days.

The Office Phone Call Was Music to the Ears - New York Times: "How can anyone get a grasp of an industry’s pertinent relationships or decision-making time frames, let alone the fragility of a particular office’s egos, if there are so few chances to hear these people talking to the outside world? The office phone call, properly overheard, is really the cheapest, easiest way to transmit institutional knowledge.

At first glance, there are reasons e-mail seems a boon. It leaves a paper trail. It allows you to formulate responses, rather than having to think on your feet. And if anything has gone wrong, we prefer not to be aurally assaulted. Every time you answer a phone call, you introduce uncertainty into your day.

But this attempt at self-preservation is counterproductive. What else is lost when we skip the call? It’s not just institutional knowledge, but also all the information conveyed through the attendant rituals of phoning."

Read it all... it is worth it.