There have only been a limited number of times where I was misunderstood in an email or text message, but I find one good example to be in a Skype chat message chain, where I asked someone what car he had, and the response was: "I'm not old enough to drive. So I do not own a car." What I meant to say was: what car do your parents have? However, I thought that would be implied. Since writing emails gives you time to think about what you're saying so you won't make mistakes and be unclear in what you're saying, I don't think I've had an occurrence where I was misunderstood when writing in any other communication form. As mentioned in Writer's Journal #2, I only use emails and text messages as communication mediums. I think the reason why I was misunderstood was because text messages are instant and sometimes induces the feeling that you need to type quickly and then send right away, without thinking about what you just said. That is another reason why emails would help prevent this issue.
I found myself laughing after seeing the response from my friend after I sent the message, because it simply wasn't what I had expected at all. Fortunately, I had learned my lesson from that text message, because I then asked another friend the same question, but slightly differently so it would be easier to understand, and got the correct response back right away. There have, however, been times where I misunderstood something that someone else wrote. Something like this happened in an email chain, where the person I was talking to mentioned a term that didn't make sense in the current context--"model solutions"--and I had to ask the person to explain what they were. Fortunately, I got a good response back. But this shows that emails too can have problems in clarity, not just text messages.
On the subject of the first misunderstanding with the Skype chat, I would re-approach that writing experience by being a tad bit clearer when I wrote that message, as mentioned above: "What car do your parents have?" For the email, there wasn't really anything I could do there, because it was the other person's problem. I don't think I've had any other misunderstandings, whether it be in Skype chats or emails. However, I still think Skype chats are quicker and more rushed compared to emails, and if you really want to think carefully and slow down about what you're writing so you won't make a mistake that could then result in you being misunderstood, you should write an email, even if it seems to take more effort to do this. A good example of this is when I wrote up a huge, long series of Skype messages that people needed to respond to immediately so I could get their input. I should've sent an email instead, because emails are typically regarded as more important than text messages, and that way, I wouldn't be filling up the Skype chat. (As a note, I still haven't heard back from my friends on that huge text message; I think that if I had sent an email instead, they would've responded already.)
And that is all for Writer's Journal #4.
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