How different generations go about business and how they communicate has vastly changed.

I recently read a memo drafted by David Ogilvy on 7th September 1982 for the management of Ogilvy and Mather to circulate as they saw fit talking about 'How to write'.

There are 10 clearly articulated points, including points such as writing the way you talk, to use short words, sentences and paragraphs and to not use jargon, but the point that resonated most was the last one - 'If you want action, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want'.

Yesterday I asked a colleague to chase up on a piece of work from before Christmas that should have already been put in place by a third party. - And this is how our conversation went:

Colleague - "I'll send an email".
Me - "Why not just give a call and refer to the request from before Christmas?"
Colleague - "If you write then you have a record that you tried to get in touch."
Me - "Good point, but it may not be read and I would like to see the changes implemented now. It will be a lot quicker to call and then at least you know the person in question knows what you want. Emails can easily get lost, forgotten or ignored. What I suggest is to call and then follow up the call with a quick note to say, 'Further to our conversation please can you do X as we discussed...'."
Colleague - "Oh yes. That's a good idea."

My point is that the latest generation are more comfortable hiding behind electronics. They text, WhatsApp, SnapChat or Insta by choice. They use social media and communicate with emojis and photos. They don't write in the way that others have done in the past and they certainly don't face up and talk to customers and suppliers to resolve issues face to face.

Is this because society is becoming more risk averse?

Does it matter how you communicate?