About 1987, I learned that I could teach graduate classes using television. Since some of the students traveled 90 miles to get to class and 90 miles back that same evening, it seemed important to make use of the possibility. By ten years later, I had learned to use the internet and web pages so my wife, a web designer and author, and I put up two courses on the web, statistics and interpersonal relations. Over time, we taught quite a few additional courses using what are often called "distance education" methods.
I realized that I could provide information, explanation and coaching, and testing by a variety of means. Since nearly everyone had a telephone (the kind one speaks over, no such thing as a smartphone yet) and many people had fax machines and everyone had postal service, I could have used telephones, fax and U.S. Post. Those possibilities were never actually used but they loomed large since many students had no computer and zero interest in learning to use one.
I find that everyone has some favorite channels of communication and some not favored. For instance, I am not well equipped to send and receive a fax, although I have read that the number of fax machines in the world is greater than the number of computers. Also, I don't, as a rule, chat or use instant-messaging. I have done very little home video conferencing. Shocking, but I have never texted.
My point is that everyone has a favorite or a couple of regularly used channels of communication. Some friends use email but shy away from web pages. Some use cell phones but don't see their mail - other members of the family or office do that. I suppose that is why there are (or maybe were) process-servers: those people who hand messages to people in the hotel lobby, at least in the movies, and say with satisfaction, "You have been served", meaning you are now legally notified that you are due in court.
So, if you are trying to contact a friend, be polite but be persistent. It may be the 5th or 10th communication that you send that gets noticed and accepted. An old practice in communication is to ask for verification that the message is received. Once the person says "I don't want to talk to you", you know they are not unaware of your attempts but are closing off their attention from you and your sources. Until then, even though it may seem humanly impossible that they haven't noticed the stream of talk attempts you have been sending their way, it is possible.
I read once that Charles De Gaulle, president of France, did not accept phone calls, saying that when he wants to talk to someone, he calls them. As Lynn said, what if everyone used that approach? Still, in today's way-over-communicated, advertised, turned-on, and connected world, don't be surprised if you are simply using the wrong mode of communication.
