珍惜人际情感 远离电子邮件

Backlash Against Email Builds

Email can be a great tool in helping us multitask and set our own timetables for communicating with friends, family and co-workers. But lately, I've noticed a growing email backlash.
电子邮件是一个很不错的工具，它可以帮我们同时从事多种工作，并帮助我们根据自己的情况安排何时与亲友和同事沟通。但最近我注意到了一种越来越明显的反Email潮流。

I have written before about companies imposing 'no email Fridays' or weekends to encourage more face-to-face and phone contact between co-workers. Lars Dalgaard, founder and chief executive of SuccessFactors, a California human-resource management software concern with nearly 1,000 workers, recently sent an email to employees banning in-house email for an entire week.
以前我曾写道，有些公司为鼓励同事之前更多地当面交流或电话联系，规定周五或周末不准发电子邮件。而SuccessFactors创办人兼首席执行长达尔高(Lars Dalgaard)最近给员工发了一封电子邮件，要求整个一周都不得在公司内部使用电子邮件。SuccessFactors是加州一家人力资源管理软件公司，雇有员工接近1,000人。

Mr. Dalgaard objects to email partly because people use it to avoid talking with others, or to hide negative or critical messages or information from co-workers, sometimes by hitting the 'bcc' button. His goal in setting the ban is to get employees 'authentically addressing issues amongst each other,' he told employees. So far, the edict is working. People are grabbing their phones or walking to each other's desks to talk, Mr. Dalgaard says. Employees still contact each other online via in-house social networks.
达尔高反对电子邮件，一部分是因为人们用它来避免同别人说话，或用于向同事隐瞒负面消息或关键信息（有时候是通过发送“密件”来进行）。他对员工说，下达禁令的目标就是让员工“亲身处理相互之间的问题”。达尔高说，到目前为止，禁令起到了作用，大家都在抓起电话或走到对方的位子边交谈。员工之间仍在通过公司内部的社交网络进行在线联系。

In targeting email, Mr. Dalgaard is trying to root out long, time-consuming, one-on-one email strings, he says. Other email critics say heavy emailing hurts productivity by distracting people and destroying their focus.
达尔高说，对电子邮件发起攻击，是要杜绝冗长、耗时、一对一的电子邮件。其他反对者说，收发大量电子邮件会分散人的注意力、破坏他们的专注力，因而有损于工作效率。

In related research, email may make users feel less responsible for telling the truth. A study in a recent issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology found that people are more willing to lie when communicating via email than with pen and paper, and feel more justified doing so. This was true regardless of whether the writers were told their falsehood would be discovered by others.
在相关的研究中，电子邮件有可能降低使用者讲真话的责任感。最近一期《应用心理学杂志》(Journal of Applied Psychology)中的一项研究发现，相比纸笔交流，人们使用电子邮件时说谎的意愿会更高，而且也更加觉得理直气壮。不管撰写人有没有得知他们的谎言会被其他人揭穿，情况都是如此。

I am having a little email backlash of my own. I used to be a heavy user of email to communicate with my adult stepchildren and extended family, who are scattered across six states. But I have noticed we are all using email less lately. Increasingly, an email seems to have less emotional significance than other modes of communication, from a phone call to an iChat talk.
我自己对电子邮件也有点反感。我的成年继子女和三亲六戚们散落在全国六个州，过去我大量使用电子邮件和他们交流。但我注意到，我们最近使用电子邮件不像以前那么多了。我们越来越觉得，电子邮件的情感意义要弱于其他交流方式，比如打电话，或通过iChat（苹果公司的即时通信工具）聊天。

Readers, how well does email work for you in communicating in depth with someone? How much do you rely on it at work?
读者朋友们，在你和某人深度交流时，电子邮件起到的作用有多大呢？你在工作中对它的依赖有多大？