I don't like to have e.g. a walking meeting for a discussion that I would like to be able to reference later. Memory is way too lossy of a format to rely on. Yet people just feel better about in-person meetings, phone calls etc. - where means of recording are usually medium, unless you literally record the audio. This is the case even in situations where the relationship is well-established, friendly and interaction repeating - so with little reason to worry about misunderstandings or personal offenses taken.
It's costly to the collective because it stifles coordination, especially if it's not just a 1-1 relationship but exchange has to include 3+ people across various media.
Is this really just because meetings make people feel better? How malleable is this preference?
Does waiting on answers make them anxious otherwise? And people just haven't learned to deal with notifications sustainably?
Or are people (unconsciously) so much into ambiguity that they prefer all parties involved to have altered memories of statements within minutes? Allows more room for political manoeuvres or reinterpretation in a way that is less costly to the individual?
Or is this purely cultural?
Am I underestimating the barrier that writing poses to many?
Who's writing about/researching this?
Thanks, I have this wherever possible. Strong upvote for the practical usefulness of the comment.
There are cases, though, where the core problem is not the ability to record but the lack of appreciation of the value of making things explicit and documenting them as such. Then I can one-sidedly record all I want, it won't shape my environment in the way I want to.
That's why I'm asking about the appreciation aspect in particular. I think there are a lot of gains from attitudes that are common in EA that are just lost in many other circles because people don't have the same commitment to growth.
This is especially the case when you alone can't do much but need a whole group to buy into this attitude. That's also why I'm less interested in meetings that are clearly only limited to 1-1 exchange. There are settings where you need to asynchronously update multiple people and having explicit communication would be much better, yet people seem to have a clear preference for 1-1 calls etc.
I'm also not talking about situations where you can impose your norms - but rather about situations where you have to figure out carefully how to go meta while avoiding triggering any individual's defensiveness to then level up the group as a whole.
Essentially, I guess, I'm interested in case studies for what pieces are missing in people's models that this seems so hard for many groups outside of EA. The answers here have already given some insight into it.