In today's society, globalisation has become a reality; something which would be deemed impossible decades ago. One of the key factors that actually made this possible is the advancement in technology. In this post, I would focus on the detrimental effects of technology in communication. However, I would briefly touch on why effective communication is a vital skill (as a budding chemist) first.
I am currently a undergraduate in NUS who is doing my honours in Chemistry, and I spend most of my time doing experiments in the laboratory. Contrary to common belief, a chemist does not only have to be good in his/her laboratory performance, but it is also mandatory to be able to put ideas across. Would you consider a scientist who is an excellent performer in the lab, but is unable to communicate his results across to the community successful? Highly unlikely... Thus, I am now doing this course, in an attempt to hone my communication skills.
Technology in the twenty-first century has advanced beyond recognition; two individuals living thousands of miles apart from each other can be linked in a few clicks of the mouse. Days of using the morse code, and having to correspond with one another via snail-mail are over, and would probably be buried together with history over time. Yes, those methods of communication that were once so effective are now considered old-fashion and obselete! However, is that necessarily a good thing?
Contrary to common belief, I choose to believe: the adverse effects pegged to communication brought about by the advancement oftechnology greatly outweighs that of the advantages. I would attempt to illustrate my point via numerous examples in my daily life.
1) As we have previously discussed, the various forms of communication have evolved; besides the usage of hardcopies to ensure that the delivery of information appears formal and official, other channels of communications assumed importance and formality in many of the societies today. Brad mentioned that most if not all of the announcements in his department are done through email, and I believe that Brad's office is not the exception here. One may ask, "how would this have a detrimental effect on our communication skills?" With cyber-forms of communication being so prevalent in Singapore, it actually affects our communication with one another, both at home (yes, my cousins often communicate with their siblings at home via msn, and so do I!), and at work (my colleagues who are sitting next to one another are sometimes talking through msn).
2) Linked to the above point, communicating more behind the computer for long hours weakens our ability to express ourselves in real life. I am making this statement with specific reference to myself. Something which many people do not know about me is that I actually stammer. Though I have never seen a speech therapist with regards to my difficulty, but I would attribute this problem to my lifestyle. One that is spent a lot in the cyber-world, which really weakens my ability to interact with others in person. I know that this is a psychological barrier, and am trying to overcome it. Help anyone? :)
3) I do not think that coming across an individual with a low EQ is a rare occurence. However, I think that we should stop and think about this issue, before we point fingers and start gossiping about how terrible and hopeless that individual is. Just like how we often sympathize with the disabled, we should also give those people that step on our toes a chance (in this case, the problem with a low EQ), before we actually condemn them. I would think that one of the reasons for this is the lack of communication with others in person. After all, we are the rulers behind the screens, aren't we?
3 comments:
Thank you, Desmond, for this highly detailed post. I hesitate to respond before your classmates. For now just let me say that I appreciate your openness and the manner in which you connected the need for effective communication skills to yourself. If there is any area where I might raise some questions, that would be in the nature/logic of your argument that the negative of today's channels outweighs the positive. Let me look at that later.
Hi,
A very interesting point raised there by you, "communicating more behind the computer for long hours weakens our ability to express ourselves in real life."
Actually some scientists speculate that in the future our heads may grow much bigger than they are now, and limbs much smaller. These are due to the advancement of technology that we do not need to move much of our limbs anymore; therefore they lose their functions as we evolve just like our appendix.
Sound scary isn't it? Maybe we do not need to look far beyond the Milky Way to see any alien; we just need to look into the mirror to see one. Well, we should move our bottom from the front of the computer and sweat it out if we do not want to look like that in the near or even far future.
Hi Des! Thanks for the nicely illustrated post.
I agree with you that Technology has weakens our ability to express ourselves in real life. However I do feel that at times technology like internet does allow people to build their confident in different aspect. Eg. Sharing of thoughts through blogs, personal comments made in forums. Through this way, people may be able to build confidence level in expressing themselves?
I feel that although technology may seems 'stiff and lifeless' but it does allow us to communicate and express our concern through words, which was crucial to me as my girlfriend was once in overseas for 2years. So I feel that choosing the right words to use is still more important to communicate effectively.
Hope to see more of your future post!
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