A Failure to Communicate

  By Tac Anderson | March 19, 2008 - 6:36 am | Comm

I have a confession. I have a really irrational fear and it has to do with a piece of technology. I hate fax.

I hate faxing. There, I said it. I feel much better. I can never tell when it goes through. Did I place the paper the right way? Did my fax get picked up by the person I sent it to? Did it get confused with all the fax spam?

This caused some real problems this year with my accountant. He’s a great guy but almost the complete opposite of me. He’s very old. A retired farmer. And has no email address. Seriously no email. When he asked that I fax some updates to him I almost couldn’t handle it.

If he wasn’t so good (and really inexpensive) I would switch accountants on that premise alone.

The good news is that I rarely need to fax, so I don’t need to get over my fear, at least until next year. And he’s about ready to retire so he won’t need to join the 20th century.

What do you think, am I being irrational? Is there any technology you irrationally refuse to adopt?

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About Tac Anderson

Social media anthropologist. Communications strategist. Business model junkie. Chief blogger here at New Comm Biz.
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  • http://pronetos.com Wyatt

    Have you checked out MyFax.com? The downer is that it’s $10/mo. Maybe there’s a similar free solution (?).

    Oh, and I hate fax, too. It’s right up there with voicemail.

  • http://pronetos.com Wyatt

    Have you checked out MyFax.com? The downer is that it’s $10/mo. Maybe there’s a similar free solution (?).

    Oh, and I hate fax, too. It’s right up there with voicemail.

  • http://pinpointperformance.blogspot.com Justin Beller

    No, Tac. You are not being irrational. You’re just being practical. I’ve never embraced fax machines for the simple reason that I find them to be very archaic and antiquated. E-mail is far more efficient.

    At the risk of shooting myself in the foot and offending everyone I am in service to, I have never embraced telephones (land lines and cellular). I find them to be intrusive and an interruption to my daily life. E-mail, text messages and instant messaging is the best way to communicate with me. I find it far more manageable and I respond better.

    To quote one of my favorite movies, “What we have here is failure to communicate.” The reason: everyone has their preferred mediums. If the mediums are not compatible between two communicators, then there will always be challenges.

  • http://mpccorpmarketing.wordpress.com Jen Harris

    When I have been asked to fax something i say bluntly (surprised?) REALLY? You want me to fax? We can’t email this info? Who Faxes anymore?
    I still loose. Maybe another 5 years the fax will be…so 5 years ago!
    What I can’t get on board with 100%….
    Twitter…GASP!!!…yes, twitter. I follow my favorite 4-5 people in Bosie when I log-in 1-2x/wk, I read about those who twitter, I would like to twitter on my BB, but it has failed everytime.
    Soon enough though.
    -jen

  • http://mpccorpmarketing.wordpress.com Jen Harris

    When I have been asked to fax something i say bluntly (surprised?) REALLY? You want me to fax? We can’t email this info? Who Faxes anymore?
    I still loose. Maybe another 5 years the fax will be…so 5 years ago!
    What I can’t get on board with 100%….
    Twitter…GASP!!!…yes, twitter. I follow my favorite 4-5 people in Bosie when I log-in 1-2x/wk, I read about those who twitter, I would like to twitter on my BB, but it has failed everytime.
    Soon enough though.
    -jen

  • http://www.redforddesign.com Dave

    I harbor the same fear. I don’t get it, never got it, don’t plan to get it. I believe fax is a dying medium that will probably go out even before the normal snail mail.

    I’ve noticed too that most people who fax rather than email are old people. Why this is, I don’t know. I actually just designed a nice fax “cover sheet” for Heather to use at Valley View Retirement Community. (Probably my oddest job request to date.) The funny thing is, all the old folks she deals with, use fax. I’m guessing though, that faxing will stay around as long as they do.

  • http://www.redforddesign.com Dave

    I harbor the same fear. I don’t get it, never got it, don’t plan to get it. I believe fax is a dying medium that will probably go out even before the normal snail mail.

    I’ve noticed too that most people who fax rather than email are old people. Why this is, I don’t know. I actually just designed a nice fax “cover sheet” for Heather to use at Valley View Retirement Community. (Probably my oddest job request to date.) The funny thing is, all the old folks she deals with, use fax. I’m guessing though, that faxing will stay around as long as they do.

  • http://www.georgeseybold.com George Seybold

    On Office Space that wasn’t a printer they beat with the baseball bat, it was a fax machine – or it should have been. Some technology must die to let greater technology overcome the horrors of the past.

  • http://www.georgeseybold.com George Seybold

    On Office Space that wasn’t a printer they beat with the baseball bat, it was a fax machine – or it should have been. Some technology must die to let greater technology overcome the horrors of the past.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    Thanks for the comments everyone. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my faxophobia.

    Maybe we should start a support group :)

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    Thanks for the comments everyone. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my faxophobia.

    Maybe we should start a support group :)

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  • http://pinpointperformance.blogspot.com Justin Beller

    No, Tac. You are not being irrational. You're just being practical. I've never embraced fax machines for the simple reason that I find them to be very archaic and antiquated. E-mail is far more efficient.

    At the risk of shooting myself in the foot and offending everyone I am in service to, I have never embraced telephones (land lines and cellular). I find them to be intrusive and an interruption to my daily life. E-mail, text messages and instant messaging is the best way to communicate with me. I find it far more manageable and I respond better.

    To quote one of my favorite movies, “What we have here is failure to communicate.” The reason: everyone has their preferred mediums. If the mediums are not compatible between two communicators, then there will always be challenges.