I don’t want to be one of those people who speak about the “good old days,” but in this situation, I think it applies. What I mean by the “good old days” is a time in our lives when we spoke to people either face to face or over the telephone.

In both instances, we were able to get a feeling of the other person’s emotions. Today, we have an assortment of communication means that will relay a message, but not necessarily convey the true meaning, emotion, or feeling. And this can sometimes lead to trouble.

Like when I sent a text message to a friend when I was upset. I chose words that I thought would express exactly how I felt, but it didn’t come across as I had hoped. If we spoke face to face or even over a phone call, things may have turned out differently. When speaking, we are able to feed off each other’s emotions and even get a chance to gauge what the person might be feelings to alter the course of the conversation. It gives us an opportunity to make a pivot and explain what we mean, instead of assuming the other person knows exactly what we want to communicate. You can usually hear emotions like anger, frustration, and sadness in someone’s voice and read it in their eyes.

HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE  BETTER TODAY?

Using technology is great for fast communication, but how can we be sure we get the correct message across?  One way I’m sure everyone knows is to use emojis. That’s why they were created, hence the “emo” in the name, to help convey an emotion.  But even that can get tricky. I know I’ve bumped the wrong emoji and it sent the wrong message! I had to send another text to clarify.  Yes, it’s easy to do, but there is nothing better than face to face or speaking directly to someone. If you can’t meet face to face, then call someone. It’s that simple.

ARE WE ALLOWING TECHNOLOGY TO TAKE OVER OUR HUMANNESS?

I think so. I remember when my daughter got a cell phone and started texting, I said I would never text. I thought it was so impersonal and something the kids are doing and wasn’t for me. Well, here I am years later, texting up a storm!  I have FaceTime on my phone and don’t use that. Nope, I text. It’s quicker and easier. But is it better? This is what we need to be asking ourselves. I think in situations where you need to tell your wife to pick up milk while she’s at the store is great to text, but when you want to tell someone something important, a phone call is warranted.  I sent a text to someone recently whose father passed away and I sent my condolences via a text message. Afterward, I felt like something as important as that should be in a phone call, not a text. But here we are in 2022, sending condolences via text messages.

WHAT DOES OUR FUTURE COMMUNICATION LOOK LIKE?

If we stay on the trajectory that we are on now, I fear we are going to become more and more isolated as people if we don’t make a genuine effort to interact with each other. I sent a text message to my guy who was in the house to turn down the heat before he came upstairs. We were in the same house at the same time! Is that using technology to make things easier or have we gotten lazy and use technology to do the work for us?  It my defense, I was in bed and was too tired get up and walk downstairs to talk to him.  But I’ve done it before when I wasn’t in bed or tired, so I’ll admit I do use technology to make things easier for me. Since we still talk a lot to each face to face, I’m not concerned we are living under the same roof and don’t communicate face to face.

We have to make conscious decisions to want to speak to people and take the time to do so. Otherwise, if we keep going on the path we are headed, we might just use our phones for everything else but what they were intended for, talking to each other.

Here’s to talking to each other,

Francesca