Telephone Tough

I heard the term telephone tough used on the radio.  The host dropped it on someone that called in just a flapping the gums about some nonsense.  As I listened and laughed, it reminded me about how often people hide behind emails, texts, anonymous blog posts, etc.  My experience has been that people hide behind their devices for one reason; somewhere in their mind, they believe they are avoiding face-to-face conflict.  However, we all know from experience that hiding only heightens conflict, as there is a lack of total communication.  All I really know is what I see in your words.  I can assume the tone and cannot see any body language.  Remember the breakdown on total communication is 7% words, 38% tone, and 55% body language, or 93% of any communication dialog is lost over hiding behind emails and texts.  I recall one of my first quotes to be published was, “I’ll take 5 minutes of face time over 50 emails.”

I cannot recall any time where being telephone tough left me with a good feeling.  There was always some type of collateral damage.  Now, I choose to skip responding or pick up the phone, and the second thing out of my mouth after hi is, “way too much is getting lost or misinterpreted in the texting/emails so I’m calling to talk about insert subject.”

Skip the urge to be telephone tough, and use the phone for its intended purpose, communication!