New Communication Channels

Old forms of saying ‘hi’ (and stuff…)

 

full disclosure: from a facebook thread…

“I believe that text messaging is killing off true, meaningful, intimate conversation. The funny part is you use a device meant for true, meaningful, intimate conversations to send text messages. I so enjoy the irony!”

I tend to disagree.

Communication is inherently complex and multi-modal including all sorts of cues from facial expressions, body language, touch, intonation, context, and so on. Digital expressions can be no less meaningful.

If face-to-face communication was the gold standard then phone calls would be a degradation as would televised political debates, newspapers, and blind or deaf people.

You can say the transport mechanism is ultimately irrelevant. I may be equally moved by a quick from my sweetie as I am from a spontaneous snap of my girls at the park sent over MMS as I am the occasional FB “Like”.

Rather, I’d say the digital experience opens up more ways to communicate and connects us more fluidly with more areas of my life with more people I care about. If, on the way home from work, I stop at the store and I get a short “wine?” text, I get the picture. Expression is expression.

Communication is raw, blind data transport. If the expression is meaningful, it gets across no matter the mechanism.