Synchonous and Asynchronous Communication

There seems to be some disagreement among people in general and people I know on how to use communication media. In this post I hope to spell out the philosophy I hold regarding the use of communication media, and I believe my view is held by many (if not most) young people.

Communication media can be divided into synchronous and asynchronous communication media:

1. Synchronous communication media requires both parties to be present and paying attention at the same time to communicate. These include:
• Phone calls
• Skype or Steam calls
• Any other form of voice or video chat
• Meeting in person
2. Asynchronous communication media allows messages from the sender to build up until the receiver gets to them. These include:
• Email
• Skype, Steam or Facebook text chat
• Text messages or iMessages
• Any form of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Google+

Now, here are some guidelines regarding how these media should be used:

1. For synchronous media:
1.  Synchronous communication constitutes and interruption to whoever you are calling. They are forced to drop everything they are doing right now to take your call. Therefore, you should avoid calling someone unless:
• It is their job to accept calls (when calling a place of business)
• It is urgent that you deliver a message right now. That is, when the message you are sending requires action and that action has to be performed quickly. Even then, you should not rely only on synchronous communication and it's probably best to send an asynchronous message first.
• An arrangement has been beforehand, either in a past session of synchronous communication or via asynchronous communication. That is, before giving someone a phone call, send a text asking if they're available to talk right now and likewise before a Skype call send a Skype message asking if they're available. The call should not be made until both parties have indicated via asynchronous communication that they are available.
2. Consequently, the receiver is expected to receive synchronous calls as promptly as possible. However, if the caller doesn't follow the above guidelines, the receiver may be unable to take the call because he or she isn't in a situation to take calls. For instance, the receiver may be walking around in a snowstorm, in a noisy room with music and other people, or not have equipment set up to take the call (I give these examples because all of these occurred last night when I was being called). That is yet another reason why the caller should set up an appointment before calling, because the receiver has to be ready to take the call.
2. For asynchronous media:
1. Asynchronous media of any kind is considered to not be an interruption to whoever you are contacting. They may see it immediately in many cases, but they are permitted to put off answering until they are ready to answer.
• This means that the sender is not permitted to expect an immediate reply to an asynchronous message. The receiver has the right to finish what he or she is doing before replying.
• As a corollary of that, the sender is not permitted to send a string of meaningless synchronous messages just to grab the attention of the receiver. The receiver already has a notification that you sent a message, the only reason for the sender to send more is if he or she actually have more to say.
• On the other hand, this means that the sender has the right to send asynchronous messages at any time, without consideration to whether or not the receiver is available. Even if the receiver is known to be busy or asleep, it is assumed they will not be disturbed by an asynchronous message.