Chats Were Great, Until They Weren’t
I used to love chats.
Some of my fondest memories from the early days of the internet revolve around them. Firing up ICQ on my desktop or later on a third-party app on my Nokia E71 was a moment of excitement. I’d spend countless late-night hours chatting with people on IRC, ICQ, QIP, and Miranda (in that exact order). There was something magical about that time - you felt like you were truly connected, knowing exactly what the person on the other end was doing. If they were busy? A simple online or away status made everything clear.
Then, the iPhone changed everything. When it first launched, carriers rolled out special plans with constant data access - a game-changer from what we had back then, at least in my small hometown in Russia. It felt revolutionary.
Fast forward to today, and being online has become a 24/7 state we carry everywhere. Even if you close the app, notifications will still find you.
I’m not here to downplay the significance of this technology or complain like a luddite. The truth is, the constant online status is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's a marvel of connectivity; on the other, it’s incredibly exhausting. The pressure to always be available, to respond immediately, can be overwhelming. I like to take my time to answer or write, to really ruminate over my response. Chat interfaces just aren’t designed for that kind of thoughtful reflection.
And no, treating chat apps as asynchronous communication tools, where you "can always respond later when you have time," isn’t the solution. The psychological weight of those unread message counts gnawing at your mind is real. It’s not just about time management; the toll those little notification numbers take on your soul deserves academic study.
The push to create communities on platforms like Discord, Slack, and Telegram only heightens my anxiety. It seems like everything has become a group chat now, which leaves me feeling more disheartened than connected.
37signals has been sounding this alarm for quite some time, and I remember my time there fondly:
Internal communication based on long-form writing, rather than a verbal tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting, leads to a welcomed reduction in meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt and be interrupted.Meetings are the last resort, not the first option.Five people in a room for an hour isn’t a one-hour meeting, it’s a five-hour meeting. Be mindful of the tradeoffs.Urgency is overrated, ASAP is poison.
For more insights, check out the 37signals Guide to Internal Communication — it’s full of gems like these.
Joel Gascoigne, co-founder and CEO of Buffer, in his newsletter from September 25, 2024 highlights a similar async experiment they called "Collaboration Week":
There's something about building the passage of time into a topic naturally by having it in an asynchronous collaboration tool, that helped us feel less rushed than we do in our meeting-heavy collaboration style. Perhaps the most exciting outcome was that we reached all the way to fundamentals in many areas, rather than solving micro-issues and remaining at local maxima.
They used Campsite, and it seems like a great tool. Basecamp understands this too. So if they get it, why don’t others?
I used to love chats, but not anymore. These days, I get more excited about receiving an email.
P.S. And guess what? These tools and ideas can replace your pointless meetings too. Yes, I’m talking to you, scrum masters - or whoever you are. Calendars have nothing to do with communication.