“Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?”
– Clifford Stoll
Clifford Stoll, author of ‘Silicon Snake Oil’, makes an astute point when he says we all hide behind our computers. We spend too much time surfing the web at work, researching just one more way to get the answer we are looking for. Or, we spend so much time perfecting the way a letter or business document looks, changing fonts, moving margins, and aligning boxes, that we don’t have the time left to work on the content.
True, this book would be nothing without a computer. But computers are taking over the office in unforeseen and unintended ways. Take e-mail, for example. If you have a problem with a co-worker or employee, it’s become much easier to e-mail him your complaint instead of actually confronting him face to face. But that is a potentially dangerous habit. First, you come across as unapproachable, which is a trait that no manager wants. Second, your message may not come across on the screen in the same way you intended.
Kick the compute habit whenever possible. Talk to people face to face, instead of hiding in your office. A handwritten note wouldn’t hurt, either. And while you are at it, erase your computer games from the hard-drive: how many hands of solitaire do you really have time for?
