The Best Way to Communicate
Brooke McBee
Brooke McBee
As humans, communication is essential. It is how people express themselves. It is how they love, how they hate, how they empathize, and how they hurt. As long as people are breathing, they are communicating. They speak through body language, intent found in the depths of their eyes, with verbalization of words acting as confirmation. They mark pages, ink dancing across their papers as their thoughts and emotions spill out. They hold conversations with others from across the world, emojis acting as their universally understood language free of confusing dialect and accents. But with all the different ways to convey their thoughts, people often struggle with choosing the right one because sometimes one form does not get across everything they want to reveal.
Vanessa Wong, a Hillgrove sophomore, believes people “rely on screens far too often for communication. Yes, it is amazing that I can talk to someone without actually seeing them, without actually being anywhere near them, but sometimes it can be just as damaging. I can’t always decipher which tone I’m supposed to take away from someone’s text. Without knowing the emotion behind their words, understanding what they’re trying to tell me can be extremely difficult, and figuring out what to say back it close to impossible.”
Another student, Atallia Stewart, further builds up the advantages and disadvantages to electronic discussions: “The different memes people send me can tell me a lot about who they are—what makes them laugh and gives them joy—but being unable to see their smile and hear their laugh can make it hard to actually connect to them and their interests. And I know there’s facetime and other services like that, but it just doesn’t seem to have the same effect. You’re still missing touch and many more other things that significantly influence the way people communicate.”
The idea of technology being a helpful, yet lacking, way to communicate is a recurring belief between students. The importance of all sensory conversations seems to be a crucial requirement for developing relationships. Sophomore Abbigayle Mouchakkaa explains, “body language is often more powerful than any combination of words you could say. Maybe because it’s usually unconscious which allows you to see through the barriers others put up, especially with the modern use of phones. We now possess the ability to edit and proofread our thoughts before unleashing them, and that’s a powerful and dangerous thing.”
Connecting to others is arguably necessary for survival. Whether it is through body language, emoticons, writing, or actual spoken words, that interaction with others is inevitable in the modern age. With the invention of phones, newer generations have learned how to build strong, long-lasting friendships with the click of a button. But despite technological advancements to provide more fulfilling conversations, there are still some aspects to distance an iPhone just cannot fix.
Vanessa Wong, a Hillgrove sophomore, believes people “rely on screens far too often for communication. Yes, it is amazing that I can talk to someone without actually seeing them, without actually being anywhere near them, but sometimes it can be just as damaging. I can’t always decipher which tone I’m supposed to take away from someone’s text. Without knowing the emotion behind their words, understanding what they’re trying to tell me can be extremely difficult, and figuring out what to say back it close to impossible.”
Another student, Atallia Stewart, further builds up the advantages and disadvantages to electronic discussions: “The different memes people send me can tell me a lot about who they are—what makes them laugh and gives them joy—but being unable to see their smile and hear their laugh can make it hard to actually connect to them and their interests. And I know there’s facetime and other services like that, but it just doesn’t seem to have the same effect. You’re still missing touch and many more other things that significantly influence the way people communicate.”
The idea of technology being a helpful, yet lacking, way to communicate is a recurring belief between students. The importance of all sensory conversations seems to be a crucial requirement for developing relationships. Sophomore Abbigayle Mouchakkaa explains, “body language is often more powerful than any combination of words you could say. Maybe because it’s usually unconscious which allows you to see through the barriers others put up, especially with the modern use of phones. We now possess the ability to edit and proofread our thoughts before unleashing them, and that’s a powerful and dangerous thing.”
Connecting to others is arguably necessary for survival. Whether it is through body language, emoticons, writing, or actual spoken words, that interaction with others is inevitable in the modern age. With the invention of phones, newer generations have learned how to build strong, long-lasting friendships with the click of a button. But despite technological advancements to provide more fulfilling conversations, there are still some aspects to distance an iPhone just cannot fix.