Hearing What isn't Being Said

Communicating in today’s world is as ambivalent as society itself, on the one hand it links people as it should, while on the other hand it operates as a simulacra, enabling individuals to fake connection when they are only creating air waves and not bridges.

Communication is the framework in which we ought to exchange meaning, make sense of the surrounding, share a reality that we create together, as one body yet singular individuals. When human beings exchange with their fellow beings, they should share information, perceptions and values altogether and strive to express a common reality.

Was it meant to create more cohesive groups and societies or polarize socially created opinions that individuals single out and fight for as their own?

Is communication today what is keeping societies together by outlining a commonality of experience and understanding or has it become one that shapes and perpetually restructures our perception of the world, to the benefit of some groups which polarize powers? Power of creating, disseminating and inculcating a reality that isn’t and was never but only seems.

With the beginning of the recent Coronavirus pandemic, a communication war has started. From informing on the risks, symptoms and consequences of the newly discovered disease, to turning the internet into a war zone, a nano-sized virus is amplifying trends that have emerged these past decades. After considering communication as a simple marketing or relationship management tool (in a time that today seems like centuries ago), it has become the sinews of war. A tweet, by a novice, seen by millions holds and drives the public opinion with a grip tighter than thousands lines written by a scientist. This further confirms, if need be, that the content or meaning shared is no longer what provides value to the communication.

A recent study by Marco A. Schwarz (2017) concludes that “social media are becoming increasingly important in our society and change the way people communicate, how they acquire information, and how they form beliefs“. In our example, social media and the internet (also taking advantage of the increased time allotted to its usage in confined households) have become our new form of interaction and information sharing, albeit following different rules and standards altogether.

The level of verification of information needs to match the level of the unbridled consequences of false and dangerous information posted on social media, which justifies the efforts used in tracking and combating fake news and other “death by erroneous information”. Efforts that remain as critical as they are rendered meaningless because the flow of information is endless.

These new forms of communication constitute the windows that we have opened today on realities that were always, or emerging, thinking we were being enlightened and empowered, without understanding those windows were tainted, pointing to a certain direction and piloted from within the house towards an unknown direction.

What would happen if next time we decide to abide to the 280-characters, we think a bit deeper about 4W of our communication: What do we want to communicate to who, why and when (is it the right time)? Worth giving it a try…