Experiencing communication overload

Today, the world is smaller and people can contact each other directly for business or personal reasons through the Internet and mobile technologies. In many cases, these communications are perceived as requiring immediate attention. Maybe its time to step back and ask: Have you opened yourself up to more daily communications than you can actually handle? Are you experiencing communication overload?

One way to assess communication habits is to look at how social networking has impacted on day-to-day activities. The advent of social networking has seen a flurry of activity as people sign-in, locate and message friends and lost acquaintances, poke new friends, share images or video, and invite others to their interest group.

Most social networking services allow “friends” to communicate with “friends”. This social space limits communications to within that network. This functions differently to e-mail and phones, where the entire world could potentially communicate with users if they have publicised their contact details.

The initial idea behind social networking sites was to provide meaningful interactions and reduce unwanted communications. In practice, the opposite has happened leaving users with more “noise” collecting in their inboxes.

Furthermore, as communications costs decrease, and more and more people become connected using differing communications technologies, it is inevitable that unwanted communications also increase. Just like disposable plastic and tin containers resulted in a world full of trash, communications technology has left us to deal with another form of e-waste, a sense of fatigue from communication overload.

This situation is further accentuated as people find it difficult to reject new friend requests or expel existing friends on services such as Facebook. The psychological cost of offending someone else seems to weigh in above the need to reduce the amount of communications received.

Since it is unlikely that phones and e-mail will be replaced by social networking sites, thus increasing the amount of daily communications, the most effective strategy to combat communication overload is to find improved ways of using these technologies.

While all methods of communication are intrusive, some are more intrusive than others. It is worth analysing the intrusiveness and effectiveness of communications and attempt to use the communication medium that is the least intrusive, but still affords effective communication. For example, where emotions are involved, as in the firing of staff, communications such as a face-to-face meeting is needed. An SMS in this context would be inappropriate.

There is good reason in seeking the most effective and appropriate communications mediums. Continued communication flows disrupt daily tasks and impact on one's work productivity. While multi-tasking may be lauded as a key skill in the digital age, the amount of time actually spent mentally context-shifting between tasks means that overall, more time is spent on activities.

Nearly a decade ago, just as the Internet was revolutionising access to information, the psychologist David Lewis in his book Information Overload (1999) noted that many people reported feeling stressed and fatigued in the computerised office environment, due to dealing with large amounts of information and increased daily electronic communications. We can assume this trend in information and communication overload has increased with even more Web and mobile communications channels now demanding our attention within our work day.

This situation is further accentuated as people find it difficult to reject new friend requests or expel existing friends on services such as Facebook.

Dr Pieter Streicher is MD of BulkSMS.

There are some ways of reducing communication overload. The real trick is in creating more manageable work and personal spaces to deal with incoming calls, text and e-mail messages, and other forms of Internet-based communications such as those generated by social networking services.

When dealing with incoming communications, users could:

* Not answer all calls or SMS messages as and when they occur - rather use the silent button on cellphones so call or message alerts do not disrupt activities.
* Not read all e-mails - instead use appropriate junk mail filters to sort out unwanted communications.
* Limit the number of subscriptions to e-mail newsletters or SMS information services received.
* Set e-mail programmes to not notify users of incoming messages.
* Turn off the social networking service's e-mail alert function.

For outgoing communications, users should consider the following factors in selecting the most appropriate communication medium: intrusiveness (how disruptive is the medium to another person's activities), effectiveness (how urgently does one need to communicate something), emotionally appropriate (how sensitive is the information or the situation). Once established, users could then:

* Replace phone calls or voicemails with an e-mail or SMS wherever possible. This forces the user to send short and succinct communications.
* Use SMS for urgent notifications and when the recipient is mobile.
* Use e-mail for not so urgent communications or when the recipient is at his or her desk.
* Use a phone call or face-to-face meeting when emotion needs to be conveyed.

In all, communications should be guided by the following maxim: encourage people to communicate using the least intrusive communications medium, while remaining effective and emotionally appropriate.

* Dr Pieter Streicher is MD of BulkSMS.