I hate electronic communication. Okay, maybe that's an overstatement, but ... consider. I was looking at statistics the other day. Ironically, in this society flooded with "social media," over the past 10 years the number of people who feel isolated exceeds 75%. In 2023, the U.S. surgeon general declared loneliness an epidemic. According to a study at Harvard, people between 30 and 44 feel the loneliest ... where 29% said they were "frequently" or "always" lonely. The study said that the #1 cause of this is ... technology ... the very thing that is trying to bring people together. So the time it takes from actual interaction (especially with family, the study says) and the distance it puts in actual connection is a real problem. (Interestingly, the study also cites "No religious or spiritual life" and "too much focus on one's own feelings." That's telling.)
Consider the challenge of communicating via electronic means. We're used to body language. Body language is entirely eliminated. We're unconsciously aware of context, but electronic communications operate in small bytes. (Sorry ... bad joke.) Small bits. (Not getting better.) Add in "autocorrect" and typos. Subtract emotional content. Throw in the delays between interactions, making us lose track of context and content, essentially starting a conversation new ... in the middle of the conversation. And factor in the serious lack of accountability ... oh ... and the problem of humor. (Humor is often built on incongruity and misdirection, completely confusing without visual cues, tone of voice, facial expressions, etc.) Frankly, remaining "personal" in a medium that is, by definition, impersonal is a very difficult thing to do.
Some years ago my son and I were having an email dialog. I said something that was intended as humor and entirely sarcastic. We would have laughed about it if we were talking face to face. He would have seen me, heard me, known me ... it would have been ... humorous. He took offense. "Why would you say something like that??!" I was surprised because, of course, I never intended it to be understood as he did. So I responded. "Read it again. Think about who is saying it. Hear it in your father's voice ... from your father's lips ... with your dad's facial expressions." I didn't need to explain further. He responded, "Oh! Yeah! Sorry ..." Because digital communications are so difficult. So I wonder why I keep writing this blog sometimes. It's so easy to be misunderstood. It's so easy to be labeled and mischaracterized. It's so easy to upset people with things that, if properly heard and understood, they'd agree with. And, of course, it's so easy for some people to be cruel and abusive when they're confident there is no accountability ... people who would never be that cruel and abusive if they were speaking to your face. Sometimes ... I wonder.
3 comments:
Well, you could always change your blog to a vlog.
I think that you keeping in mind the medium you're using helps you keep it in track. Writing will always be around, and always misunderstood. Don't let that discourage you from expressing the truth you know to be true.
Now, I wonder what prompted these musings today. ;)
You mentioned “electronic communication” and “digital communication” in this post, but the core of what you do at this blog is just good ol’ written communication that happens to use electronic/digital platforms for dissemination and interaction. Yes, written communication has its challenges, as you describe, but they are not insurmountable. Personally I feel you take very good advantage of the benefits of writing at a weblog, while overcoming its drawbacks equally as well. Beyond the language arts skills needed to write well, it seems that a reasonably “thick skin” is required, which must be kept supple with generous applications of sensitivity and basic consideration--leading to the occasional (and highly effective) “I am sorry if I miscommunicated or misconstrued.”
“So I wonder why I keep writing this blog sometimes.” I would hope it’s because you are convinced (as this reader is) that your efforts here are constructive, edifying, enriching, beneficial, enjoyable, God-honoring, and needful. (And this cannot be said about each and every weblog out there.) And also because participation here helps, in a very real way, to allay that sense of isolation that you mentioned in your opening paragraph. Yes, “digital communications are so difficult”--but they are an incomparable means for offering “a word fitly spoken” (Prov. 25:11) in this electronic age.
I was thinking a bit more about the difficulties that you feel are inherent with “digital communication.” In addition to being hindered by lack of facial expression, body language, visual cues, etc., there is the challenge of expressing semi-complex thoughts clearly and precisely enough to be understood by readers. Completing this intellectual exchange successfully would require skill on your part as well as a fair degree of intelligent comprehension on the reader’s part. Even with the ability to clarify things a bit through the comment section, full communication is sometimes not achieved. After reading here daily for over a decade and generally finding myself in agreement with most things you relate, I know there are a few positions of yours that I don’t fully understand (and vice versa). Sometimes, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” The vast majority of the time, though, you “knock it out of the park.” You should be encouraged by that.
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