As a communication person -- educator, public health messaging and media researcher -- I've often wondered just how the pandemic is changing communication skills. Virtual meetings have created exhaustion. Psychologists explain that we need new skills to catch the attitude or mood nuances on screen -- things we know how to do when in the same space. Well, we know how to read people without masks <smile>. Dealing with these impediments to clear communication for over ten months has delivered exhausted, frustrated human beings. And that happens when technology functions correctly. With lags, software and audio difficulties, things become even more challenging.
Electronic communications result in attention wandering as our listening skills differ when we can't see all aspects of our conversants. New subtleties of communication are being learned and sadly, others are being unlearned. When we are back in the same space, how will this affect communications? The hope is that we will be able to relax a bit and interact as we learned to when toddlers. There will be the need to focus in a different way yet again. Using active listening skills again may take time but we will get the hang of things again. In the meantime, use of these skills virtually requires more effort and energy than we may have at times <smile>. Perhaps having regular check-ins about virtual communications could provide the support needed to wade through the challenges.
I guess the point of my pondering is that more audio only and screen meetings means we need to learn to read folks differently -- see the signs in different ways. It can work but it can fail, too. <smile> Keeping a positive outlook can help with the latter as could the check-ins. A song lyric about reading the signs ran through my head. It came from a 1970 recording, Today, I share a cover made 20 years later. Stay safe. Enjoy!
Signs -- Tesla
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