How We Communicate (By Crafty)

Communication is a necessity in this world. It is a way to express and exchange thoughts, ideas, and information. Communicating effectively, though, is a whole different story. Recently, I taught my students about verbal and nonverbal communication. We also discussed active listening and the difference between hearing something and actually listening to it. In a world where we spend so much time on the computer or texting, it has become hard not only to communicate effectively with each other, but it also leaves us struggling to comprehend sometimes what another person is really saying.

Word choice is one of the things that, whether written or spoken, should be pretty clear. I choose the words I want to say, a person understands them, and we move on, right? Not always. Sometimes word choice can be over someone’s head or too technical. Other times the words that are chosen actually require a person to infer what it is truly meant. Just because someone doesn’t spell it out for you in simple terms, making sure you get the point of the message, doesn’t mean they are not communicating effectively.

Honestly, we have gotten lazy. We don’t want to have to infer things, and we want it all right there in front of us - usually as quickly as possible. It wasn’t always that way, but we have managed to dumb down society to the point where some people don’t even know what the word inference means.

Communication in Friendship

After a year-and-a-half long friendship with Boxy, I finally got to meet her in person this weekend, but that is a post for another time. While I was visiting Boxy and her husband this weekend, though, I got the chance to see their wedding video. They are coming up on 14 years of marriage this year and it was so much fun to watch the two of them on their wedding day. Of course, I couldn't help but share the photos I have on my laptop of my wedding with them as well. Then the three of us realized that we are quickly becoming old. Comments like, "They aren't together any more," "What happen to him," and "Sadly, he died,” started to come up in the conversation. While it is natural that life moves on and things happen, it got me thinking about how many people from my wedding I still talk to. How many people from college and even from high school are still in my life? My thoughts weren't just how many were still in my life, but also why aren't they in my life?

I had a long drive to think on my way home from Boxy’s house about the reasons. One is simply because we have all moved physically. Sure, there are some of my friends from high school that still live close to where I grew up, but even I finally moved away - after living in the same house for 21 years. In this day and age, it does seem like this is a ridiculous excuse to not be in contact with someone whom you once thought of as a friend, though. We have so many forms of technology that enhance our ability to reach one another, so why don’t we? Perhaps we could do some good with our social media accounts. I know Boxy hates social media, so for her, unless she finds another way to talk to people, she's not going to connect on Facebook. For me, however, I don't really know. Has too much time passed?