Speaking Easy

Language developed as an evolutionary tool for survival. These forms of both verbal and non-verbal communication are essential to our development as people, it helps links communities and gives us a tool to understand others. This understanding is crucial in our survival and helps make the world a better place, sometimes. This leads me wonder if our ability to communicate is evolving too? I think we are fundamentally lacking in our communication skills as a whole but the only thing that seems to get better is the sticks we poke each other with, these weapons steadily evolve while our humanity is devolving.

Our communication abilities lack a lot of social graces currently. The advent of computers and cell phones has helped us hold information in the palm of our hands all the while it builds a wall between individuals that can hide in anonymity or keeps us from actually interacting with other people. This explosion of information has made it possible for us to know so very much but so little about each other. We should seek out information on manners and everyday etiquette too. This would help alleviate a little of the miss communications we have. Like Emily Post said, “How we speak is just as important as what we actually say. And what we choose not to say may be just as powerful as what we do.” When a friend tells, you she is fine but her face looks red from tears and her voice is cracking. You know that your friend is not fine but you change the subject because you can tell she doesn’t want to talk about it. These instances have so many layers into them it’s easy to tell how we can so easily get off track when communicating with each other.

The way that we deal with one another can make a big impact on our lives. The hidden layers of meaning in our verbal and nonverbal add a layer of context that can often be misinterpreted. Picking up on social cues about what is appropriate can be difficult when the shake of a head or a facial expression does not match up with a person’s words. I think that this can be difficult for people to pick up on especially with the lack of actual physical social interaction people are having in today’s world. I was reading an article on communication and it said that nonverbal communication can never be faked. You may be able to appear confident but if you are not truly confident you may fidget while speaking giving yourself away. The different ways to deliver your messages can help you or hurt you so speak easy with a smile. A smile is one of the best things to give or receive. I think if we smiled more at each other it would help to improve our ability to communicate with each other.