Wednesday, March 7, 2012

When communication fails

Can we talk? Technology will not save us.

The rapid development and expansion of the means of communication has opened up never before seen possibilities for reaching out and touching people almost anywhere, any time, instantaneously. Minds are crammed with information overload. Our lives have become noisier and more immediate. We hear something on the radio or read it on the internet or get a text message, and zap off an instant reply. It's so easy to skip over fact checking and time for careful reflection when we can simply blurt. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, and the rapid response mindset it has brought with it, human error is also compounded and amplified. Words cannot be bitten back because they're already halfway around the world. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle.

We don't take the time to ask whether the message we received was the message sent, or the message intended, or to seek further information. And corrections are too little too late, because the original damage has already been done.

Technology will not save us from our human communication failures.

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