Call? Text? Email? How Do You Prioritize so many Communication Choices?

I left a message on a Dad’s landline answering machine about arranging car pool for our daughters.  He never heard the message and laughed that he only uses his cell phone now.

A co-volunteer emailed me at 9:11a.m. with a change in instructions for my volunteer shift at 1:30pm.  I didn’t read my email until 4:00pm

How do we communicate as we approach the year 2017?  Is there an etiquette defined?

Here’s my personal process –not right or wrong, but my way of doing things and why. 

Landline phone – appointment reminders, conversation, middle of the night emergencies. I grew up with a landline and still use it as my primary contact.  For most instances when I give my phone number, it’s not to someone I want to ring my cell while I’m grocery shopping or watching a soccer game. Multi-tasking may be great for some people, but I enjoy single focus in my life – I believe the catchy term is “mindfulness.”

Cell phone – call backs from doctors , customer service reps, etc. (when told to call that number). Texts for anything you need a response to within an hour or so.  I generally will check on my phone hourly so if the co-volunteer had texted I would’ve received it.  My kids know that if I’m driving they need to call because I will not touch my phone while driving (I have blue tooth).  They can also call when I’m grocery shopping or watching a soccer game: different rules apply for those closest in my life.

Email – shopping receipts, meeting minutes, anything that doesn’t need an immediate response. I check my email daily: often early morning then again later in the afternoon.  My job doesn’t communicate with me via email nor does my immediate family for urgent information so I have no reason to monitor my email hourly.

I work as a substitute teacher and I’m not always in a school or location in the school that gets service. So when I spend the day at work, I may get a break to check texts or missed calls but I have no reason to check email.

Social Media Messenging services: I’ll receive Facebook messenger like a text on my phone because I’ve set it up that way.  One of my sons has shoddy cell service in his dorm, so he will send me a messenger  text from his wired computer.  But some people have messaged me through Twitter and Words with Friends: I’m less likely to see those than to see email so besides the occasional “good word!” those methods aren’t effective for me.

Have you experienced communication breakdown in the digital age? How do you prioritize what method to use?

 I could spend another essay discussing the difference between a proper communications in each method: brevity vs. politeness.  Even more on all of the opportunities for personal contact that really should not be missed just because a text is convenient.