Episode 181: Digital Body Language

The Broad Experience

Careers, Society & Culture, Business

5.0 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nearly all our workplace communication is digital. Gone are the days when faxing seemed like efficient new technology (believe me, it did at one point). Emails, team communication programs like Slack, texting, instant messaging - they’re all convenient and speedy. They can also cause a lot of angst.

In this show I sit down with Erica Dhawan, author of the book Digital Body Language, to talk about why digital communication can be so fraught with frustration and anxiety. Is that terse email simply direct, or does a more sinister meaning lurk in those short sentences? Are emojis OK at the office and if so, for whom? I’m also joined by Liz Zelnick, whose experience in a past job made her think again about her use of exclamation points. And we look at the advantages of virtual meetings, where stereotypes can fade into the background.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Get ready with me, gym edition. First thing, your watch. Who else is going to track your workout? Play some tunes and celebrate your new personal best. The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is the ultimate health coach powered by AI. Save £114 pound with Galaxy Watch 8 at Vodafone on a 24-month connectivity plan ordered by the 2nd of September. Visit your local Barkingside Vodafone store today.
0:23.9	Saving against connectivity and device, eligibility credit checks in terms of apply.
0:26.9	Compatible smartphone, Vodephone airtime plan, Samsung account and health app required.
0:28.8	Intended for general wellness and fitness only. Welcome to the Broad Experience, the show about women, the workplace and success.
0:44.9	I'm Ashley Melentight.
0:47.0	This time, our workplace communication has moved almost entirely online, but it's easy to be misinterpreted when you shoot off a text,
0:56.9	slack message or email.
0:59.1	And women are often judged on the friendliness factor.
1:03.1	There was a more junior man who was on my team,
1:07.2	whose work I managed,
1:08.2	and he had a few drinks and told people that I was a bitch over email.
1:15.4	Still, some aspects of digital life may weaken old prejudices.
1:20.2	Even the fact that we are all on smaller thumbnail screens in a video meeting,
1:25.6	we are less cognizant of a lot of those visual body language biases.
1:30.2	If there's four men and one woman, we're less likely to notice that.
1:33.9	Digital body language coming up on the broad experience.
1:54.3	I'm what my first guest today calls a digital adapter, someone who started my adult life in the analog world with landlines and fax machines.
2:02.9	I remember in my very first job, another assistant explaining to me how to change the paper in the fax machine, she told me it was a lot like changing the loo roll in the bathroom. Technology has moved on a lot since then,
2:10.4	and digital communication is incredibly convenient, but it can also be confusing, frustrating,
2:16.9	and anxiety-provoking.
2:19.4	Erica Dewan is the author of the book, Digital Body Language.
2:23.4	She began noticing people's actual body language when she was a little girl.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Broad Experience, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Broad Experience and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.