During the work from home epoch, one of the most common topics of discussion among employees was how much they all wanted to be in the same physical space again, interacting face-to-face. Some of the reason for this was, almost definitely, frustrating experiences with Zoom and Teams and Skype and all of the other technology platforms that are generally very useful but have been pushed to their capacity limits – with at least occasional human errors to blame for difficult online interactions.
Even when we perfect electronic communication tools, and we all really do understand how to operate them effectively, humans will still be driven to interact in-the-flesh, face-to-face.
In the Harvard Business Review, MIT researchers Ratti and Claudel (2016) report that, “Today’s technology does allow global and instantaneous communication, but most of us still commute to offices for work every day…What early digital commentators missed is that even if we can work from anywhere, that does not mean we want to. We strive for places that allow us to share knowledge, to generate ideas, and to pool talents and perspectives…Far from making offices obsolete, as the digital pioneers of the 1990s confidently predicted, technology will transform and revitalize workspaces. We could soon work in a more sociable and productive way, and not from the top of a mountain. The ominous ‘death of distance’ may be reversed with the ‘birth of a new proximity.’”
The question that naturally flows from Ratti and Claudel’s work is, “Why do we still want to communicate face-to-face?”
The answer to that question is, in short, because interacting face-to-face is the only way that we can fully communicate with each other – and the information that we get through some of our nonverbal channels is particularly important.
Tools as old-fashioned as email enable us to send words back and forth to each other, but words themselves convey just a small part of the information that’s transmitted during a face-to-face conversation.
When we’re talking face-to-face, we learn crucial information, things we need to know to effectively process the words we are hearing, through all of our sensory channels. Some examples of our non-spoken communication mediums follow.
The distance that we stand or sit from whomever we are talking with conveys a lot of information, about relative power and relationship status, for instance, which can influence how spoken words are interpreted and acted on. Similarly, eye contact during exchanges conveys a great deal of information – different cultures have different eye contact-related social norms, which means any interpretation of eye contact is context specific. Even with the clearest online transmissions (with clarity imperiled by the Internet connections at many of our homes) it is, realistically, impossible to maintain eye contact during an online conversation. Also, humans communicate a great deal of information through scents that we generate but do not consciously perceive. These scents do, however, provide important clues to how information spoken should be assessed.
In our current technological era, optimizing organizational outcomes requires that we communicate face-to-face to fully understand whatever spoken words actually mean; this is particularly important when significant decisions are being made. And, sometimes, a reassuring hug is just what the psychologist would order.
Carlo Ratti and Matthew Claudel. 2016. “If Work Is Digital, Why Do We Still Go to the Office?” Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2016/04/if-work-is-digital-why-do-we-still-go-to-the-office
Sally Augustin, PhD, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com). Research Design Connections reports on research conducted by social and physical scientists that designers can apply in practice. Insights derived from recent studies are integrated with classic, still relevant findings in concise, powerful articles. Topics covered range from the cognitive, emotional, and physiological implications of sensory and other physical experiences to the alignment of culture, personality, and design, among others. Information, in everyday language, is shared in a monthly subscription newsletter, an archive of thousands of published articles, and a free daily blog. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.