I love to snack. A nutritionist recently suggested I munch on something healthy between meals so my body has fuel through the day. Fine in theory—until the snack is not so healthy, or the snack and the meal are both large. More is not always better with food. It is not always better with communication either, especially when the talk itself has been snackified.
Phil Libin, then CEO of Evernote, put it this way on a 2015 Harvard Business Review podcast: the way we work has changed. Step back from work and look at life, and the big trend is that life is becoming more snackified—shorter intervals, smaller bites. Healthy snacks can support a body. Short electronic bursts can support a relationship—or, like too much snacking, wear it down. A few checks so the conversation, snack-sized or not, still adds something:
- Connect with emotion. We read voice and body. Text and email carry little of that. Emojis help. So does writing the feeling in plain words: “I feel sad about this.”
- Pick the right channel. Text and email give you time to think. Some issues still need a voice or a face.
- Check the mix. Are you mostly texting, emailing, calling, or sitting down with someone? Text is fast and less intrusive. The people who matter also need the longer, meatier talk.
- Notice what the other person prefers. Your default may not match theirs—or the goal of the conversation.
- Read it before you send. Devices remember. Multitasking and a drink both make it easier to hit Send on something you will wish you had not.
- Take an occasional cleanse. Shut the outside world off for a stretch. Quiet time is how you come back to center.
Here’s to healthy snacking—for your body and your relationships.