Exclusive content
–
The note you are trying to access is exclusively for subscribers
Subscribe me
Know our plans
and enjoy El País without limits.
–
Enterokay
If you are already a subscriber you can
enter with your username and password.
–
–
Marta gets up at seven, at the same time as her husband and their two children. At a quarter to eight, the two boys will leave home to take the bus that takes them to the high school. Five minutes later, Marta and her partner will do it, each one going to work. This is the only one space of time they share all four of them all morning — and most of the day — although most of the time they hardly have the option of exchanging a few words. Every morning, each member of the family devotes their newly awakened attention almost entirely to their mobile. This could be the usual morning behavior of any average family.
There is no doubt that internet, in general, and social networksIn particular, they are tools that facilitate contact with other people. Thanks to them, we have reduced the distance that separates us from our friends and acquaintances. Now we can always carry them in our pocket and talk to them anytime, anywhere. We have also increased the number of contacts in our calendar and “Friends” from our social profiles, so that it is possible to interact with a large number of people that we had never seen or their faces.
We can say, therefore, that as a consequence of the widespread use of social networks, the number of contacts between people has increased. What is not so clear is that the quality of these interactions has increased. Rather, the opposite seems to be the case.
Contact vs connect.
Contact means “make contact with something or someone ”. It is an operation that, as we have seen, is very simple if you have the necessary technical or technological tools.
On the other hand, connect means “achieve good communication with someone”. That is, it is synonymous with to communicate, which is a much more complicated process than contacting. In this case, having the appropriate technology does not guarantee that communication will be carried out. For a communication process to exist, several well-known elements intervene: the sender, who is the person who initiates the process; the message, which contains the information that the sender wants to transmit; the receiver, who is the person or public to whom the message is addressed and who in turn directs messages to the sender; the channel, through which the message flows; the code or common language between sender and receiver; and the context, which is the set of circumstances in which communication takes place: place and time, culture of the sender and receiver.
The communication with other people It is one of the main needs of human beings, as social beings that we are. However, communicating effectively is not easy, because it requires that the six elements mentioned are in the right conditions. Furthermore, it is not enough for the message to reach the recipient, but it must be understood by the recipient.
–
–
Communication requires condensing, synthesizing, contextualizing data. The information excess needs to be filtered, ordered and transformed into a valid message for the person to whom we are addressing. The receiver must understand that information and it must be understood by the sender.
WhatsApp problems.
The conflicts in communication they are more likely to occur when the interaction does not take place physically. When speaking by letter, by mail or through social networks, practically all of the information that we emit is words, so most of the non-verbal elements that may be essential to understand the message are lost.
We can try to supply the non-verbal messages with emojis and stickers, but the fact of putting smiley faces in a message does not imply that this is really our state of mind.
It’s so much easier lie on WhatsApp than in a face-to-face interaction. It is also easier for the other person to misinterpret your messages. Even if we are seeing his face, through the screen it is not possible to have the communicative wealth that face-to-face meetings offer. Therefore, in this type of conversation, the sender does not have as much control over the message, the channel, the code, the context and the receiver. Hence, it is common for misunderstandings to be generated.
–
–
It is much more complicated to write a clear message than to say it to someone in front of us, because in the latter case our non-verbal language helps us to convey what we want and the expression of the other person tells us if they have understood it or if we have to give it more data or explain it in another way. As it is a type of communication mediated by technology, there are more obstacles between the interlocutors, and the fluidity of the channel depends on factors such as the speed of the connection, the quality of the equipment, the latency of the network, etc.
Although the language used is common to both people, problems due to the code are also common. Incorrect lexicon, misused expressions, misspellings, idioms or automatic correctors, to name a few examples, can result in a different message than the one you want to convey. Even emojis are interpreted differently.
In terms of context, communication problems they are mainly due to the fact that the interlocutors are in different places, times and circumstances, which often make understanding difficult. It is possible that we read the messages while we are in a meeting with other people, in class, in a cafeteria … and that external stimuli are not the most suitable to correctly interpret the intention of the sender. We may also read them late, when it no longer makes sense to respond, which can further fuel conflict.
Listening carefully to the receiver to know his state of mind and to perceive how he is receiving our message and thus be able to adapt it towards a better understanding is difficult when we are not physically with him.
Besides the loss of non-verbal information essential to listen actively, the virtual chats They favor being distracted while waiting for the answer, interrupting the speaker, changing the subject prematurely, having several conversations at the same time and other series of behaviors. Ultimately, communication implies a relationship between sender and receiver, and, as such, is a continuous source of tension and difficulties. To be effective, it requires effort on both sides. Even so, it is inevitable that misunderstandings will arise that generate conflicts, since these are inherent to any relationship.
Technology cannot avoid these conflicts. You can facilitate contacts, but not personal connections.
Interaction through social networks is not comparable to communication, so it cannot satisfy the need we have as human beings for connection with others.
Rather it is a information exchange, of messages, in which sender and receiver They are busy increasing their contacts and the number of content they disseminate, rather than recognizing the other person and building a relationship with them.
– .
