Not to mention, misunderstandings crop up in text all the time, often due to lack of tone being conveyed

Can you elaborate on this? "Tone" is something that inherently has to be interpreted, so it doesn't make sense that you're attributing this as a quality that shields from misunderstandings.

People attribute tone to text that the writer may not have intended. For example, someone might write something that is very brusque, but still meant it lightly, and people may interpret this as overly rude or aggressive - while had they spoken it, their tone would've conveyed their intent.