
Ask HN: Why do async communication channels become more synchronous over time? - yang10pan
The classic example would be email where expectations around response have rapidly shortened. Is it something that can be fixed with tooling or is it more of a cultural issue?
======
auslegung
I think it’s entirely a product of the culture using it.

First, the importance of, for example, email has steadily increased over the
decades, and thus email has become something we expect to be faster and
faster.

Second, as consumerism demands more and more faster and faster, the American
culture (and many others) has faithfully obeyed, speeding up everything it
possibly can.

It’s easy to imagine that if a culture were completely free of consumerism,
many none face-to-face communications would be very slow, very async.

~~~
yang10pan
Agree that consumers have tended to demand faster and faster services. Do you
think importance is always linked to speed?

~~~
auslegung
In any culture that worships consumerism, yes, importance will always be
linked to speed. But in a culture that is deeply connected to agrarianism, for
example, it would be easier for people to see that many important things must
be done slowly.

