Has email replaced the telephone call in business/life?

I think it has. My office is a lot silenter in the morning than it used to be. I talk to editors in short emails. All these kids texting rather than phoning one another–they are leading us. They recognize the greater efficiency of written communication. It is telegraphic, the smalltalk is minimized. You don't have to run your antennae over one another, or don't get to. That has been lost: all the emotional cueing of a phone call, the interpersonal adjustments. But what has been gained is much greater productivity. We have more business relationships than ever and they are more transactional than ever. Short, efficient, a little soulless. Have to find your soul in other precincts. Like last night I curled up with Dickens near the woodstove at midnight. 800 pages. I think I got thru 15 of them. Our minds are being transformed for the new age. (Phil Weiss)