Communication

Sometimes I wonder what the world of communication will be like in the future. Maybe we will no longer need communication devices of any kind. We'll have implanted nanobots in our brains that communicate all information directly to everyone in The Hive. We'll choose which public and private hivelets we want to join and open up individual hive channels for one-on-one discourse. The Hive will replace the internet for knowledge, communication and entertainment of all kinds.

Of course, I don't know what good all of that will do if no one ever bothers with comprehension skills. Miscommunication and misinterpretation seem to have been problematic since the birth of man. I'll bet plenty of wars have been fought as a result of it. Maybe there will be special communicator and interpreter bots to capture thoughts and organize them in a way that the recipient will understand, coloring with the correct feeling and intent.

Even now, with all of our fancy, colorful, shiny, fast communication gadgets that can share information in the blink of an eye, we have serious problems with communication. Since so many people prefer writing to actual face-to-face or voice encounters, communication errors seem to be at an all-time high. Since you cannot gage a person's tone or facial expression in written communication, people often assign their own interpretations. Those interpretations can often be completely wrong.

First, not everyone is good at written communication, especially when using a language knock-off where vowels, punctuation and capitalization are avoided if at all possible. Second, very little emphasis is placed on comprehension today. I recall taking specific classes called "Reading Comprehension," with actual testing to be sure that you learned something in them. These classes were intended to teach people how to read and come away with at least a basic understanding of what was written. Third, many people don't pay much attention to or place much emphasis on understanding what they have read.

Heck, some people can't even comprehend you when you are actually talking to them. They are either distracted or trying to think up responses to everything you say before you even finish saying it. How can a person thoroughly comprehend what is being said or written when they are trying to think and do 12 other things at the same time? Multitasking is not always a good idea.

Here's just a snippet of an email conversation I had with someone who would appear to be a madwoman if I didn't know she skims over everything with such lack of attention that she even replaces important words with whatever shuffled through her mind at any given moment. She then skips everything else.

Me: "I don't think you should have to drive for three hours to come pick this up. Let's wait for a time when I can meet you halfway."

Her: "Why can't you meet me halfway? Why do I have to drive all the way to your house and then drive all the way back?"

This ticks me off. Can't you tell? I hate being misunderstood, so I try to put a bit of thought into what I am saying. I used to try and further explain things when I came across someone like this, but it has become incredibly frustrating to do that. Now I just respond with something like, "Please go back to previous response and read slowly and carefully."

I almost never get an immediate response after I say that, but it feels so good.