Hey, We Really Need To Talk

Wikipedia defines Communication as; a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, however the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication in order for the act of communication to occur.



Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are nonverbal means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, through media, i.e., pictures, graphics and sound, and writing.




I guess what they're tryin' to say that no matter what, it takes a minimum of two people, regardless of whether they are present or not, to make the communication work. That sounds simple enough. But that's where you'd be wrong.


I think it's the part where the other person need not be present that messes things up. Back in the ol' days, the person that you were attempting to communicate with pretty much had to be right there next to you in order to hear and to even hope to understand what it was you were trying to say.



Still no guarantees as languages and speech were not perfect sciences at that point. Back then, hand gestures played a huge part in communicating your message to another person. That and a good swift yank of the hair.

As time went on, things got a bit better as more languages evolved and it was generally frowned upon to pull a females hair. That's not to say that fights no longer broke out over something that was mistakenly said but for the most part, Tribes pretty much had a basic language they worked with and it was up to you to learn it. If not, it could definitely cost you dearly.

But again, for the most part, you pretty much had to be within hearing distance of whomever you were trying to communicate with. I'd have to think that if yelling hadn't been invented yet, this just might have been when it first became popular.



Writing has basically been around since the Caveman days, hammering one rock with another rock to create stories of sorts in an effort to communicate but here again, I have to wonder just how much got lost in the translation. Hmmm, is that an elephant or a deer? Perhaps a dog? Maybe a horse?

I think you get my point. Communication still left a lot to be desired. But as alphabets began to flourish, languages became much more polished. That's not to say they were by any means perfected but more often that not, guidelines were set in place allowing a bit more structure and a little less room for self interpretation.



As people began to migrate all over the world, they tended to take their language with them. Which was fine, as long as you just stayed with your own group but once you tried to communicate with another tribe, you were just plain screwed. Major language barrier. Which also meant quite a few arguments ensued.

Finally, at least in the U.S., one single language began to take hold and it was either you learned how to speak, read and write it or you were quickly left behind. Yes, you could get by with just speaking the language alone but if you couldn't read and write, your future was extremely limited.



Luckily the telegraph was invented as that would allow you to communicate with others that were a very large distance away. Same with letters being delivered by the Steam Driven Locomotives and the Pony Express, two other great ways to reach out and touch someone.

We as humans have always had an inherent need, a desire to stay connected and being able to sit down by candlelight, dipping your feather in an ink well, chronicalling all of your thoughts and sending them off to the wide open spaces, knowing there was a pretty good chance that they would actually arrive at there intended destination had to be a huge breakthrough.

But none of these can even come close to the invention of the telephone. Oh no, THAT was the breakthrough of the that Century. For the first time, you were able to communicate with someone in real time, from thousands of miles away. No more wondering if they could hear you or understand you, instant feedback.



Speaking of feedback, it kinda makes you wonder who the first person was to ever get the phone slammed down on him. I say him because I have a feeling that it was a woman hangin' up on a guy because of something he said....or didn't say. I'm just guessin' here....

Fast forward quite a few years and while the phone has gotten smaller and quite a bit more mobile, you'd still have to think it's the preferred form of communication. Besides being there in person, of course.

But thanks(?) to all of the new technology available, we now have various other ways to stay in contact. Whether it be through Email, Text Messaging, Instant Messaging, all of those have opened up so many more avenues for communication in todays modern world. Or have they?



It seems as if instead of opening up all of these new avenues of communication, all they've done is replace actual communication with cybersmoke blowing. While the phone couldn't replace actually being there in person, it was the next best thing.

I say was because it seems to have been replaced by these other means of so called communication. A few clicks here, push another button there and whoooosh, off goes your message. Off to who knows where. Will it reach it's intended target? Well, that's anybodys guess. And worst of all, nobody seems to care whether it does or not.

Emails, in some instances, can be monitored to allow the sender to know if the recipient has actually opened it, read it and responded to it. Not bad for Cyberspace technology.



Texting on the other hand has that let it fly kinda feelin', sending your message off to who knows where and hoping it reaches its intended destination. And if you do eventually get a reply (that makes any sense) then consider yourself lucky.




Instant Messaging has both its good and its bad points. It resembles texting on the Big Screen. If both communicators happen to have Web Cams, then at least they can hope to see a bit of a facial expression here and there. However they also better be equally adept at typing as this isn't a sport for the non nimble fingered or the textually challenged.

Oh no, this can be a super hectic, fast paced nightmare come to life. Similar to a game of tennis between a fresh Rookie and a seasoned Pro, no doubt somebody is gonna get hit in the balls..... ooops, I mean hit WITH a ball.

I don't agree with those that think these cyber replacements can come anywhere close to the communication that can be had from just a simple phone call. Sure, on the phone it can sometimes be difficult to read emotions but as long as you throw in a bit of laughter here 'n there, for the most part you should be ok.



But I don't care what anybody says, there just isn't any substitute for actually being there with the person you're communicating with. Having a face to face, one on one conversation with your sweetheart, having her say "I Love You" in real life, just can't be beat.

So until the day comes that they invent a computer or even a phone for that matter tells me it loves me, all while kissing me on the lips, I'm gonna stick with the ol' fashioned way.



If you can relate to a need for good communication in a relationship of any kind, I'd like to hear about it and if you enjoyed this post, I'd appreciate it if you'd share it with your friends.