We are the minds of the twenty first century. Intelligent beyond compare with opportunities and the world at our fingertips. Great has been the journey we have taken from the horse drawn cart to the latest speedsters we zoom by in. In about a span of a mere hundred years the face of the world we know has changed. We have gone from milestone to milestone, through hardships and triumphs and today we stand at our developed best, heads held high, chests puffed out ready to take on the next hurdle and crumple it to the ground with the help of our magnificent brains and our high order thinking.
As we have climbed up the ladder of success, there have been a few steps we have taken in the wrong direction too. This is definitely a by-product of change and hence change is inevitable so is the fact that we will never be perfect. Within the framework of the imperfections however, lies an imperfection that has turned into an epidemic. This imperfection as I see it, is a communication difficulty, but not a difficulty that we have plenty of workshops about, or something that is spoken about at self-development talks or in books. This type of flawed communication is a consequence of the very same development we are so proud of. An error in the communication of a digital kind.
We have all met a great communicator in our lives. What makes a communicator good or even great is the fact that they articulate, maintain appropriate eye contact, modulate their voices and use proper pauses for effect, they are audible and of course the crème the la crème… they express their emotions through their communication. Today, we find a new wave of communicators. I would like to call them ‘The Digital Spkrs’ (no that’s not a typo, that’s speakers in digital!!!). Being a part of the education sector, one thing we never run out of is the ‘What in the world is he/she talking about??? moments, and these come from book and paper corrections as well as the odd happy teacher’s day note we get slipped into our belongings. The race to get to the imaginary finish line is getting so heated up that we have absolutely no time to complete a word or even worse, make sense of it.
True, the language we currently use is not the so called ‘correct’ language but we can all live happily by making some perceptual adjustments and since we have become so very dependent on our gadgets, it is best we get used to it. Peaceful co-existence however ought to find a different mode of communication. I have found myself right in the middle of digital wars on a number of occasions and hence the deep thought placed on this topic. How many of you have started a conversation on whatsaap or any other messenger service that has quickly spiralled out of control and has had you stop, cross eyed after a few hours wondering, just what happened between me saying hello and the current moment? What happened my dear friends is the effect of the ‘Digital Faux Pas’.
As already discussed, the characteristics of a great communicator are also present in the not so great communicator, but even a great communicator can get himself/herself in to a lot of hot water on a medium where his expression is limited to words, abbreviations and a few emoticons. When you are participating in a digital conversation, the topic of discussion should be well thought out. Being a medium that includes very little actual face time that also includes voice, we tend to miss out on emotion very easily and jump to conclusions automatically. Even a conversation on the phone where two people are actually talking to each other can result in a lot of misunderstanding. What we must remember is conversation is much more than talking to a person, it is emoting through your voice and body language as well. Being appreciative of the fact that we can’t communicate everything we want to over a text will save us a load of trouble.
In today’s ‘Digital age’ stories of couples breaking up over a text message aren’t really uncommon anymore. Results of studies in digital communication show that a larger majority prefers socialising digitally rather than in person. What exactly are we doing here? Are we actually celebrating this crazy trend as development when in reality we are creating a race of social misfits who find face to face contact anxiety provoking? The irony lies in the fact that though we are progressing digitally, socially we are moving backwards. Let not one of our proudest inventions turn us into social outcasts and let us find a balance before we commit the ‘Digital Faux Pas’.
