Can't Talk Now

It's not just a joke about people who can't rub their belly and pat their head at the same time, it's true that the average person has a one track mind when it comes to talking. For some reason, talking is a whole brain process. We can multi-task at most things but It is well known that driving a car while talking on the phone is almost as debilitating as being drunk. Talking takes the whole brain because we are so busy listening for the next word while planning our next response there is no bandwidth left for any other task.

It must go back to our ancient ancestors and we are locked into full attention when we talk. But now in the modern age we can't afford to give all our attention to one thing so unfortunately, talking is the odd-man out. Sorry buddy, you gotta go.

At work I can carry on five simultaneous chat conversations with no stress and trouble with accents from different cultures and there is a written record. But I can still only do one phone call at a time. That's why meetings are so unproductive, only one person can talk at a time. If everyone stayed at their desk and chatted they would get more work done.

Having a conversation is the most intimate way to communicate and it is very good for conveying gestures and other personal feel good type interactions but it is not so good for business. Those gestures and feel-good tricks are only confusing and clutter up the workspace when clear communication is needed.

We are less likely to blurt out in writing something we might regret the way we might do in person. Like when the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz said "Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking." Conversely, some people with nothing to say have done an awful lot of thinking.

That is why we are evolving into people who might prefer to write than fight. Meanwhile I will call back once I write down what I want to say, but I can't talk now, I have to think instead.