If Only We Could Communicate

Every phone today has wifi connectivity enabling one to send texts to more than one person at a time that too in just a second, yet communication has become rare. There is something horribly wrong with people. They have conveniently chosen to not communicate! Do you too belong in the ‘they’? 

You might be wondering what am I even talking about, but take a moment to understand what I am trying to tell you. Sure we have all phones, so we text, chat, post videos and pictures, share live updates of our daily lives through Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Whatsapp stories, send emails, but is communication just about that? 

Communication is a broad term that goes beyond the basics of exchanging dialogues. To communicate means to let the other person know your thoughts and feelings clearly. You also communicate when you listen to someone else talk, telling him/her that you are engaging yourself in listening to every little detail he/she is telling you.  When you converse as well as listen intently, you communicate. 

The best way to communicate is by having a face-to-face conversation which involves looking straight in the eyes of the person and giving your whole attention to him/her. How many of us do it? The day we started running our fingers on the phone keypad to send texts, we lost our ability to efficiently communicate with our loved ones. 

Now, instead of calling up a friend and saying- “There is something bothering me. I need to talk about it with you. Let’s meet tomorrow”, we have chosen to put sad quotes on our social media handles which are visible to all those on our friend list. These are people who absolutely don’t care. The ones who care, you don’t approach. This is where you fail to communicate. 

One of the major reasons why we all fail miserably to communicate is because we are pathetic listeners. I have learnt that people around us have a lot to say, share and express. Not listening to what the other person is communicating makes him/her feel ignored. This results in the person turning to the first easy way of expressing himself/herself: social media. However, the satisfaction of this form of expressing is short-lived since there is no positive outcome. Moreover, the sustained inability to communicate and lack of attention from loved ones is believed to be the root cause of the most prominent mental health concerns like depression and anxiety. 

I understand that we all are busy living our own lives and dealing with our issues at hand, but not paying attention and giving the much-needed quality time to our loved ones, has disrupted our ability to connect and communicate. This lack and absence of communication have ended up ruining the strong bonds we once shared with our friends, partner, siblings, cousins, grandparents, and parents as well. Do you realize how messed up this is? 

There are many reasons why we are shying away from communicating. The ‘busy lives’ obviously are prime reasons, but I feel the true reason is something else. We fear to communicate. This is why most of us choose to not answer or talk to our people. The best way to deal with any kind of issue is to sit down and talk. It is sad though, that we have stopped talking. Whatever it might be that we feel like telling, good or bad, positive or negative, we must communicate in the right way. Remember that even nations across the world initially begin with discussing a particular problem and then reach a viable solution. Why then must we not communicate? 

When we communicate, we understand what the other person expects from us and vice versa. This way none is left assuming what he/she might be thinking or wanting. By not communicating, we complicate things even more. 

Give it a thought. Do you communicate well with people who mean the world to you? If the answer you received from within was a no, you have to learn to communicate. It’s needed! Just try it and you will realise what your life lacked.