Communication Essay, Research Paper

Communication Progresses Between People

In today’s hustle and bustle of everyday life, men, women, and children

walk past one another without even a friendly smile or hello. As global

technology grows, communication between individuals gets more distant and

less personal. Even in families, messages are left on the answering

machine or as notes on the fridge. Therefore, with todays’ highly

competitive technological world, it is vital to receive and maintain some

old-fashioned inter-personal communication.

Communication throughout history progresses from face-to-face to smoke

signals, to the Pony Express to Canada Post, to the telephone to telex

machines to modems. The fax machine is so impersonal that neither voice

nor hand writing are used, and personality is lost. Now a video link where

the person can see the caller and feel a personal touch, is trying to

re-establish the original methods while using high-tech systems. Thus, as

technology increases, we can clearly see attempts to get back to the “old

way” through usage of time saving methods.

One benefit of high-tech communications systems is the ability to make

previously impossible communications possible. Think of the father and son

separated by an ocean, one in England, the other in Newfoundland. This is

where the telephone plays a role. It facilitates an almost instantaneous

connection at a reasonable cost, and bridges a gap. Fortunately, this is

now made possible by satellite systems launched into orbit by a recently

developed rocket deployment system. Aside from this, people should attempt

to communicate with people in their immediate surroundings more often, and

use the more up-to-date technology sparingly, and only when appropriate.

If a walk is taken down the street, or perhaps a ride on the subway,

there will always be people seen with “Walkmans” or similar escapism

devices. People are turning off the world, blotting it out, and turning to

their own drummer. This in turn, affects their listening skills. In fact,

listening to a “Walkman” over the halfway point for more than forty minutes

a day, three days a week, is a leading contributor to permanent hearing

loss.

This syndrome can also be taken relate to television watching,

especially in this day and age when we have “Much Music” broadcast all over

the country. A short attention span and a lack of concentration are other

factors in this ongoing problem. With the introduction of the remote

control television, not more than fifteen years ago, people have had the

opportunity to change stations as soon as the action isn’t as fast as

they’d like it, or to skip over commercials. So, it affects other people

too, as they have to put up with those who only hear them when they want

to, or on the second time around.

Also, on dates, couples are turning more and more to impersonal

activities and lifestyles like being entertained by all the latest

high-tech equipment such as video games, computers and movies. This

doesn’t promote much conversation, because each person is just sitting,

watching, as if they were there alone. Married couples often spend most of

their day working, so they have less time to talk. Families should set

aside a time for some informal talk each day, where they’re away from the

television and similar distracting devices. Sitting down with the family

for dinner is a good time to talk. It is actually quite helpful for family

members to listen to one another, and share concerns, instead of grazing

from the fridge with no communication.

It is important, to take a time-out to sit down and think about the

effects of a lack of communication upon one’s self and others. First of

all, it promotes an impression of little self-worth. This is due to a

deficient element of thought and a lack of sharing of feelings between

people. Next, it affects others by making them think that you don’t care

about, or even think of them enough to bother to get together for a little

discussion. All these difficulties can be mended by a little time to

listen, to think, to speak, and to share.

In conclusion, it is clearly evident that people require to escape

from the sequence of artificial methods of relation, and get back to

the original, most beneficial ways. It can be easily seen that this

method provokes more thought and creativity in both parties. Hand

movements, tone of voice and facial expressions come into play. In

personal communication, these elements of body language relay at least

75% of the message received. Thus, on a one to one basis, messages

are personalized with the addition of body language, and the

personality and feelings of the speaker are received by the listener.

So, you can’t hide your face behind the anonymity of the phone or the

paper, but are forced to feel and grow with the situation of reality.