Using social channels to connect has become our standard way of communication. We use a variety of platforms - from text and video to email, voice calls, and even game consoles - to get our message across. No one really thinks about how to get a message across to someone or a group of people. It’s just in our DNA and we do it automatically. The question is, are we getting a meaningful response from the other side? Are we actually building a foundation for a healthy discussion?
Sometimes we don’t realise it, but our approach or communication style on these platforms may not be optimised to achieve our desired results. This is because we haven’t actually learned which phrases or words to use in these channels. It just happens and it automatically generates a dialogue. For example, texting drives poor grammar habits. It also makes communication much less formal and can even make genuine statements seem dishonest. Here are some of the problems with texting:
Using text abbreviations, such as u for you and r for are means that texting has a negative influence on users’ writing. Text speak encourages the greater misuse of homophones, such as there and their. It also means that we revert to using more abbreviations, such as gr8 for great or h8 for hate.
Since text messaging cannot accurately convey tone, emotion, facial expressions, gestures, body language, eye contact and replace oral speech or face-to-face conversation, it is likely that messages will be misinterpreted or misunderstood. The real meaning of your message gets lost through the medium.
Challenges
All too often, human relationships are impacted due to miscommunication via email and text messages. Texting and using abbreviations mean that we are losing our ability to have, or are at least avoiding, the traditional face-to-face conversations that are vital in the workplace and in personal relationships. But this also applies to chat and email.
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