We weren't really mad at each other, but it sure seemed that way. While I was in law school, my future wife drove a few hundred miles to see me after a discussion over text where we both misread tone. I don't remember what we wrote to each other that created the hurt. But I do remember that reading messages creates a much different impression than a face-to-face conversation, even with someone you love. It showed that I needed to learn how to write with clarity and empathy.
In the times before the pandemic, work colleagues shared information from across a conference room table. In those conversations, we had cues like eye contact, tone of voice, and body language. Every other method of communicating is just replacing person-to-person communicating. Now, most of our discussions happen in typed forms like text, chat, and email. The opportunity to misunderstand is rampant.
Our listening has been replaced by reading text on a screen. This leads to disagreements because science shows we understand less when
