[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/05\/31\/the-slow-decline-of-communication\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/05\/31\/the-slow-decline-of-communication\/","headline":"The slow decline of communication","name":"The slow decline of communication","description":"We might be witnessing the next evolutionary step in language development and the slow decline of communication.","datePublished":"2016-05-31","dateModified":"2021-12-27","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jamie-anderson\/#Person","name":"Jamie Anderson","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jamie-anderson\/","identifier":119,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/249ae804963762332acd20e644bfe865782bee3d64ee223d5dd6a28e548b47b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/249ae804963762332acd20e644bfe865782bee3d64ee223d5dd6a28e548b47b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/thumbnail-7c8c661cc7f5967e23762e135bb41852-1.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/thumbnail-7c8c661cc7f5967e23762e135bb41852-1.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/05\/31\/the-slow-decline-of-communication\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/uncategorized\/","name":"Uncategorized","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Categorization","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5884621"]}],"wordCount":558,"keywords":["Communication","Customer Engagement","Marketing","Technology","Text Messaging"],"articleBody":"We might be witnessing the next evolutionary step in language development \u2013 if so, it\u2019s up to us to keep it interesting.Picking up your phone to check it mid-conversation has almost become an acceptable faux pas, a very modern alternative of catching someone sneaking a peek. The offended party feels snubbed while the guilty screen addict, caught red-handed, either styles it out or gives an apologetic shrug.Some meetings are opened with a \u201cno phones please\u201d announcement, but general etiquette is simply to leave your phone face down on the table \u2013 and resist the temptation to \u201cGoogle that\u201d instead of just talking to each other and working it out for yourselves.The big irony for me is that while we\u2019re compulsively snatching at our phones, we don\u2019t use them to make calls. Instead we use them for text conversations \u2013 a further insulation from real interaction.It\u2019s pervasive. A thorny subject in all relationships. And I get in trouble for it just as much as everyone else. Some of it comes down to a lack of simple courtesy, but beyond that what it really shows is that we\u2019re just not listening to each other properly. We shorten and channel communication through such a narrow lens that we lose many of the qualities of true communication.Text you later: The slow decline of communicationThe other symptom of this is that many people just don\u2019t understand the nuances of situations. Things are served up for debate when we don\u2019t have all the facts \u2013 and jumped on gleefully without pausing for thought. Look at the way politics are \u2018discussed\u2019 on Facebook, or the motivational epigrams we share on Instagram in the hope that people will conflate some Zen Master\u2019s musings with our own pseudo-wisdom.Avoiding a real understanding, or appropriating text and making it fit our needs has always been part of the way we willfully miscommunicate.Growing up when and where I did, the divisions among the kids tended to be religious \u2013 Catholics vs. Protestants. If there was a scrape and some poor Protestant kid got duffed up, then a random Catholic kid would get a shoeing in retaliation, all in the name of \u201can eye for an eye.”But of course, that\u2019s not what it means. The saying really just means that the punishment should fit the crime, not that we should all go around with our chests puffed out quoting the Sean Connery\u2019s \u201cThat\u2019s The Chicago Way\u201d speech from The Untouchables.The simple fact is that when things are put down in writing, they\u2019re open to interpretation. This is one of the great things about the richness and diversity of the English language, but it\u2019s a shame that we dumb it down every day, slowly chipping away at authenticity and quality.In the communications spectrum it\u2019s all becoming one color \u2013 the combined auras of what we do and what we say \u2013 but it\u2019s an increasingly bland one. We\u2019ve got a chance to inject some vibrancy, some purple and paisley. If we do nothing it will just keep slowly turning grey.  Relationship status: Complicated.AI in e-commerce is critical, but obstacles around data privacy, talent, and integration are slowing adoption. Our powerhouse panel has the stats + strategies you’re looking for. Register HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2016","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"05","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/\/05\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"31","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/\/05\/\/31\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The slow decline of communication","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/05\/31\/the-slow-decline-of-communication\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]