Make the World a Better Place

Communication is key. No matter what efforts we put forth to make the world a better place, the pre-requisite is clear communication to assist in the ability to effectively collaborate with other people. In today’s generation, there is a large lack of communicative abilities. I see this on a daily basis.

Romance:

1. Text

Everything is about playing games. Girls can’t be the ones to text him first. He must first reach out to her to indicate his interest. She can’t look too thirsty. She has to make him want her.

2. Snpachat

When they start snap chatting it’s almost a competition. Who can hold up the longest without opening the other’s snaps? Somehow purposefully ignoring someone’s snap for thirty minutes sends the message that you’re too busy doing important things to give the other person the time of day. Then once the snaps have been opened and exchanged, it’s a contest between who leaves who on read. Kind of like the “you hang up first” “no you hang up” game except in today’s world you want to be the one to “hang up” first. If I leave a guy on read I’m being a boss a** b*tch and am leaving him on his toes. He’ll be wondering why I didn’t reply. But if he leaves me on read I’m left stressing and thinking maybe he’s not even into me.

3. Instagram

This one is pretty simple. If he likes my pic then he’s down. Straight facts. Because obviously he’s on Instagram 24/7 right, so if he doesn’t like my pic it’s intentional and when he likes it its because he’s “letting me know” he thinks I’m cute, obviously.

I am disgusted by this behavior. This is the wavelength of my generation and yes I take part in it at times. My argument is why undergo all this stress when it can be avoided? Maybe he left me on open (snapchat) because he opened it right before sitting down for dinner with his family and he didn’t have time to reply. But because of the way we think nowadays, I'll be heartbroken thinking he’s no longer interested in me. Why play all of these games and make all of these assumptions when we can be straight up with each other? If I snapchat you that’s because I want to talk to you, not because I want to wait with anticipation over the next hour because you’re trying to impress me. That inhibits the flow of an enjoyable conversation. How can we keep things rolling if we only reply to each other every hour? It’s disruptive. We need to be more honest and open with each other. If we like each other it must be evident in the way that we show interest in each other. Consistently checking in and asking about one’s day, getting into stimulated discussions, or maybe even telling each other how we feel. I don’t know, maybe I’m old fashioned but that’s just a thought.

Friends:

How many times have any of you gotten into a b*tchy argument with a friend because he/she thought you were mad, over text? Because you can clearly hear my voice as you read my message right? Something as simple as the lack of proper punctuation or one extra y at the end of “hey” can throw people off. The notorious “k” response, is a clear indication of being pissed off and annoyed at someone. But my mom, who is not very expressive and up to date with current colloquialisms, “k’s” me all the time. She’s not permanently mad at me (well debatable) she just uses the notorious “k” out of the most commonly used context.

I can’t begin to describe the number of times my friends have sent me “are you mad at me right now?” Like, no, Jenny, I’m just too lazy to write a full-on MLA essay replying to your text asking me “what are your plans tonight?” But the worst is when they don’t even ask and they just assume. Jenny didn’t reply to my last text in two hours, that’s weird. I later find out that Jenny thought that some part of my text was a passive slur indicating that I was mad so she killed the convo.

These are all little stresses that occur on a daily basis. It’s ridiculous. If we were all clear with what we want to say and asked for clarity rather than making assumptions, these miscommunications could all be avoided.

Ultimately, these inadequate communication skills engender impotence to effectively communicate in the workforce. Not so much with my generation, but with younger kids who are growing up glued to a screen, I have noticed that they lack eye contact and the ability to maintain in-person conversations. They aren’t getting the necessary physical practice to have the confidence that they need to sustain a conversation.

These examples are just things that I personally encounter with my friends. But I believe that rectifying them is essential for our future because I’m sure similar miscommunications occur in the “real” world every day. I mean I hear it from my dad when he’s on a work call, “but I told you explicitly to send him the memo yesterday, Linda,” “Oh, I thought you said not to.” A tiny mishap like that could end a deal or prevent one from taking place. Miscommunication creates unnecessary tension.

Now, this doesn’t apply to everyone and when it does apply it’s not always the case. But I’ve experienced it enough times to flag it as an apparent issue in our society. We need to all work together to make a conscious effort to be better communicators. I’m sure many of my peers will be addressing issues like world hunger or trying to close wealth gaps. While those are all very prominent and important issues to rectify, that can’t be achieved without quality communication. It’s the pre-requisite to achieving most of these things.

If we as citizens of the world are going to unite to make a collective effort to rectify such troubling issues that exist, we must first master the ability to fully understand each other. This means taking the time to ask questions and show interest so that maybe I can actually tell if you’re mad based on the way you’re acting because you’ve previously demonstrated the same characteristics under those circumstances. Without this ability, we won’t be able to effectively work together to achieve anything at all. Part of this understanding is educating ourselves. Why does the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians persist? For many reasons but one of them is because many people today aren’t fully educated on the topic. They quickly take a side based on inherent bias or to jump on the bandwagon and they propel the dispute.

Key to Good Communication:

1. Clearly stating your needs
2. Attentively listening to others
3. Asking questions
4. Doing research to educate yourself