Let's Talk!

The rise in digital technology is changing the way we live. Probably the most noticeable change has come in the way we communicate with one another  (just take a look at the demise of the U.S. Postal Service as an example).. Increasingly, face-to-face contact is being replaced by social networking sites (eg: Face Book, Twitter and others), email and texting. Some have shared real concerns about this change ... that as communication becomes more digital ... it becomes less personal. Others brush this off as no big deal. So .... should we be concerned about this trend? Or is it really "no big deal?"

I must cast my vote for the "we need to be concerned about this" view. Now I have a number of reasons for this which I would love to share, but since my time today is limited, here are two of the more important. For starters, consider the nature of communication itself. Research tells us that when we communicate with others, the words we share are only approximately 10% of the process. The rest of communication occurs via our voice (tone, pitch, words we stress, etc.), our facial expression and our general body language. All of this is missing from our digital communication (OK, I realize that if you want to send an angry email to someone you can use 24 point, bold, red, all caps font or to express some other emotion just use an emoticon  :)  - so there are ways to creatively work some of this into our digital communication. But really, who takes the time to do so?). For this reason, digital communication has a lot to be desired.

Here's a second reason why we should be concerned about the rise of digital communication (and the subsequent decrease in face-to-face communication). A recent study by the University of British Columbia revealed that people are more likely to lie when texting vs. when the use more personal forms of communication (audio, video conferencing, or face-to-face).  According to one of the researchers, "Less self-awareness, greater anonymity . . . more distance between people -- it leads to less moral behaviour." Makes a lot of sense to me. Reminds me of something Admiral Lord Nelson had to say about the men of the British navy, "Every sailor is a bachelor when beyond Gibraltar." Say what? For those of us who are somewhat geographically challenged, we might not understand what he was getting at. But here's what he meant ...  In his day, when a man's ship got beyond Gibraltar (i.e. - beyond the bounds of the British Empire), he became anonymous. He was known to no others (but his shipmates) and what he did would never become known back home (because what happened on a ship's tour, remained on the ship's tour!). He was free to pursue his own selfish desires. And so with digital communication forms. It is by its very nature more anonymous and less personal. So it is much easier to deceive the other party. 

So ... what is my point in all of this? Do I think you should throw out your smart phone or shut down your computer? Hardly. But I think all of us need to take stock in how we communicate. Make sure that with those important relationships in your life - that you give them some quality "Face Time" (I am NOT referring to Apple's Face Time here!). And when you are communicating digitally, be sure to be upfront and honest. 


Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj