Natty Chatter

A disturbing trend has emerged in our modern society and that trend is the far reaching extent of our ability to intercommunicate with each other. From e-mails to txt msgs to twitters to myspace to facebook to blackberrys crackberrys, we are now more connected to each other yet we are still so far apart.

Now I'll be the first one to admit to using these forms of communication because they are convenient and easier for the less confrontational meek, but the problem is that these forms lack the personality humanity of a good face to face or even a decent phone call. Why the lack of humanity in these technological gadgetry?

My answer is that as a species, humanity was designed to be a social creature. We have thrived as a civilization through our interactions with each other and the achievements/disasters we've made because of those interactions. Would Trojan War have happened if it wasn't for Helen? Or the inspiration of the divine for Michelangelo's rendering of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Could generations of men swept women off their feet without the help of romantic language comparing their love ones to the beauty of a rose or of a perfect sunset?

According to certain research, 55% of all human communication is based on body language, 38% is based on your tone of voice and that only 7% is based on what you have to say. Granted this particular set of statistics only apply to experiments dealing in the communication of feelings and attitudes. Thus, expression of human emotion or feelings by modern technological methods means that 93% gets displaced or lost in its translation. Now one might say that it's hard to misunderstand the three simple words that "all significant others" want to hear every now and then, but even that phrase can mean different things by its presentation.

Take a second and consider that simple phrase and deliver it with passion, then again with sarcasm, or how about with anger, or with boundless joy, or utter depression. Then try delivering that line while fighting the toilet with a plunger, or shaking your head in a no (side to side) manner, or throwing that long pass in football. Granted, you probably stopped at the second or third version, but surely anyone can agree that the what, when and how the words are presented can make a profound difference.

And the problem is that technology strips that away. The subtleties of the our language are stripped away to the lowest common denominator which is the mere words. Thus, resolve today at this very moment to stop and instead of e-mail, texting, facebooking, or myspacing someone, go find them and say what you have to say. Above all remember that your nonverbal language will be say so much more than your words could ever say by themselves.

-C