No man is an island. Human beings were designed to be dependent on one another. We need the support and co-operation of people in order to survive in this treacherous world. And in this interdependent social network, effective communication is an integral part to survive.
However, as much as survival is innate, it was not the main motivation for me to do this module. While it is true that acquiring skills such as resume writing, presenting and critiquing is beneficial, I feel that the most important reason to communicate effectively is to improve relationships at all levels, beyond that between a couple in love. Living in this materialistic world, relationships are one of the few things that I consider as timeless and priceless. Yet it is highly dependent on communication which is something we can consciously do. If we take the effort to communicate properly, relationships can improve.
However, in our modern high-tech society, effective communication is slowly being replaced with efficient communication. The speed and efficiency of the message being communicated becomes more important than how effectively the message was communicated and received. And because of this, many avoidable misunderstandings occur, resulting in unnecessary strains in relationships.
Since the condition of a relationship is highly dependent on our ability to communicate, I strongly feel that I should do my best to learn how to communicate effectively. After I have learnt and applied these skills in my life, I can confidently say that I have put in effort to create enjoyable relationships that I would treasure.
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteEfficient communication is so very evident in the modern world we live in. The first example that popped in my mind would be SMSing. Teenagers have focused so much on efficient communication through SMSes, that their standard of English has dropped drastically. I still remember the whole incident of how the students were using SMS lingo in their compositions.
I can tell that you are someone who treasures friendships and relationships a lot. I am sure that having effective communication skills will be a step closer for you to be able to not only maintain the current friends you have, but to also make new and lasting ones.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI agree that these days efficient communication has taken over, and inevitably at times we forget about effective communication while we are in the pursue for speed and efficiency. In fact I had an unpleasant experience with one of my friend because I failed to consider carefully the implications of my words, and the message was sent out before I could reverse the situation.
On another note, as much as SMS lingo has slowly creep into our everyday life, I think that what matters is that one must be able to distinguish and identify the situation, and from there decide the correct language to use. I believe that once we consciously make an effort to distinguish the language use, we will be able to prevent the pitfall.
Hello Jonathan!
ReplyDeleteYes. Relationships between people is something I regard of high value as well.
Life in this world is one lonely road. That is why, people have friends, families, spouses etc. This is so that if we were to take a tumble and fall, at least there will be people we can rely on to help us back up. Effective communication is one avenue to help maintain and enhance such relationships.
Although electronic means of communications can impair effective communication, I believe that through more innovations and advancement, this problem can be solved. =)
There is something called a "hug suit" invented recently. It can mimic the hugs of the caller. The listener can feel the hugs indirectly from the caller. Although impractical now, due to the size and heft, it is still a stepping stone for a more natural mode of communication that involves all our 5 senses.
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteQuite nice to know your motivation is to improve the relationships at all level. I totally agree better communications can bring people closer.
I like your thoughts on the effective and efficient communications. True! Nowadays, the young people gradually confuse the two terms. Facebooking, twittering have dominated our daily interaction and physical meetings has lost its ground at large. Maybe that can explain that the younger generation is actually lonelier than the elderly.
Yet, to me, it would be more convincing and clear if you could add more examples to ”many avoidable miscommunications”. Otherwise, every reader will have his/ her own interpretation. : )
Besides, I noticed that two paras start with “However” and the last para font is different.
Overall, Great Work!!!
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ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteYou have brought up an interesting fact that I never think of, efficient communication vs. effective communication. I'm taking non-verbal communication as an example of efficient communication. Most of the time, people would just send a SMS or a Facebook message to wish me Happy Birthday on my birthday. However, this can never compare to a face-to-face greeting which bring warm into my heart. Non-verbal communications are useful in certain occasions but it is not as effective as verbal communication when it comes to interpersonal relationship.
I'm a person who treasures friendship and family relationship a lot too. To study in NUS, I have no choice but to move into hostel. I'm exposed to many talented, outspoken people in hall. From my observation, they are always the one who take initiative to start a conversation. It is an effective way to decrease discomfort among people who just happened to know each other for a short while. I feel less tensed when I talk to an outspoken person because they can always create interesting topic to further extend the conversation. This ensures no awkward silent moment during our conversation.
To maintain relationship, we definitely need proper communication to understand our friends thinking and inner feelings.
Hi Jun Xiong, DY and Finalfa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on this post. Yes, I must say that one of the main causes of miscommunications in this world is SMS. The whole idea of SMS is being efficient and time-saving. Most people do not like to read a long SMS for the simple reason it is suppose to be Short Message and not Long Message Service. It is because of this reason, people try to simplify the message as much as possible and this often results in miscommunication. Another reason of miscommunication via SMS is because we do not take time to consider or even re-read the message we type before sending it out. We simply type out the idea we have in mind as fast as we fingers can do so and send it out without much consideration of how the recipient might possibly view the SMS. Good communication takes time and cannot be rushed through. Hence I feel that we need to relook at how we communicate at all levels including SMS.
However though SMS is one area of concern of miscommunication, I must still give credit to SMS lingo for improving communications at times. As most would agree, one of the most powerful tools in verbal communication is tone. People more affected by the tone of a conversation more than that of the words used. In SMS, it is phrases like “LOL”, “hahahaha” or even emoticons (smileys, frowns etc) that set the tone of the message. Hence in an informal setting, SMS lingo can help improve communications when used appropriately.
As for the hug suit mentioned by Finalfa, I’ll be looking forward to try it. It would certainly be interesting to have the element of touch in our non face-to-face conversations.
Thanks, Jonathan, for the concise and well-focused post. You have touched on why effective communication is important to you; that in creating enjoyable relationships, you 'give birth to' something that is priceless and timeless.
ReplyDeleteWhile many have touched on specific areas why effective communication skills are important for them, you have focused on the core of all communication - that human beings communicate in order to connect.
I look forward to reading your next post, Jonathan.