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Saturday, August 23, 2008
sun set at 11:16 PM

The First Step

Communication, one major factor that determines humans from other species, has been constantly developed over our evolutionary history. Our ability to articulate and accurately flow our ideas from one individual to another makes humans by large a story telling being. Thus to be able to communicate effectively has become one of the more important aspect of our everyday lives. In every corner of the world, people are actively communicating with one another, developing ideas, sharing knowledge and learning from one another. Even hermits who chose to live at the outskirt of human habitats still keep their humanity as they still retain the ability to communicate.

The term “communication” thus affects everybody, and as humans evolve, people start to look at ways to achieve “effective communication”. Technologies are developed and many of these technologies aim to shorten intrapersonal distances. One such “famous” technology is the onset of cellphones. Looking at the cellphone’s sales figures, it is very easy to get a sense of how rapid this technology is affecting our lives. According to the statistics from the market database Wireless Intelligence, it took 20 years for the first billion mobile phones to sell worldwide. The second billion is achieved in four years and the third billion is reached in just two years. I recently came across an article titled: Can cellphone help end global poverty? (Sara Corbett, 2008) and was very drawn in by her discussion about how important telecommunications are not only to the more well-off population, but to the poor as well. In one of her interviews, it actually shocked me to know that in very poor families studied, even before they could meet their basic needs, they aim to fulfil telecommunications first above all other. And when these families’ income grow, say from $1 per day to $4 a day, their expenses in the information-communication technology grow much more than compared to housing or even health expenses.

This need for telecommunication is also very much seen in the part of the world that is better-off. Taking me for example, I recall an incident where I forgot to charge my handphone and it went dead midday. This caused a catastrophe to the rest of my day as I end up going late for meetings, missing out on urgent announcements and blamed for being uncontactable. The feeling of not being to contact anyone just makes me feel very out of place.

Thus with so many devices around us that enhances “effective” communication (such as internet, fax machines, handphones etc.) it is not hard to see the importance of effectively communicating with one another at the technology level.

Effective communication broadly looks at two levels. The first which was discussed above looks at how one can successfully “connect” to or reach the target of communication. The second looks at how an idea is accurately brought across to the target of communication. This second aspect is especially important for me in my field of study: Science. Science is all about understanding one another; Understanding each other’s thoughts, ideas and research. Communication in my field of study emphasizes a lot on accuracy and details. Misunderstandings may lead to very undesirable outcomes.

Thus both aspect of effective communication be it at the technology or personal level, are very important to me. One allows me to connect to my communication partner, and the other ensures my ideas are accurately conveyed.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice entry

August 25, 2008 at 10:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Jun Rong,

I can just imagine how lousy you must have felt when your phone went dead on you! I remember I forgot to bring my phone out once and I felt so helpless, vulnerable and restless for the entire day.

It has become a habit for most of us to check our phones regularly for that message, or that one miss call. Not forgetting all the contacts that are stored in that little SIM card. I've always wondered how people from the past(before the prevalence of hand phones), can memorise the phone numbers of all their friends and families. I'm ashamed to say that I can only remember the contact details of my family members. If I have to call a particular friend to save myself, I won't live to see the day. LOL.

Also, the widespread use of handphones has simplified our means of communication, such that we are not putting in enough attention to what we ought to, for proper communication. Ever received a friend's SMS a few minutes before you are supposed to meet, only to inform you that he/she would be late? Then, what happened last time when our ancestors didn't have the luxury of handphones for communication? What did they do when they are late? How can they inform the other party? haha. My only explanation for this is that they are rarely late.

I guess it's too late to salvage the situation now. We are so obsessed with the use of technology . Perhaps the only way is to constantly ourselves not to neglect the proper ways of communication.

August 25, 2008 at 10:22 PM  
Blogger Sammy said...

Yeah,,, the result of miscommunication in the workplace could be a really huge disaster. The statistic on hp sell is very interesting, it is a very sound prove of the human's desire on developing effective communication.

August 25, 2008 at 11:49 PM  
Blogger Brad Blackstone said...

Thanks for this detailed post! You discuss our topic with lots of verve and insight. I especially like the way you bring the general to the specific in your last two paragraphs. Excellent effort!

August 26, 2008 at 10:33 AM  
Blogger wjyen said...

Hi Xin Yi

The part bout our ancestors really caught my attention. This bring out the issue that has the improvement of technology make us more of a slob? It seem we have been taking the technology we have for granted and therefore often misuse them.

August 26, 2008 at 11:04 AM  
Blogger wjyen said...

Hi Xin Yi

The part bout our ancestors really caught my attention. This bring out the issue that has the improvement of technology make us more of a slob? It seem we have been taking the technology we have for granted and therefore often misuse them.

August 26, 2008 at 11:04 AM  
Blogger Junrong said...

Dear Xin yi,

yes, i do have strong feelings about the past where we practice memory of phone numbers. Actually for my case, I only get to have my first handphone when I was in my army years, and even though it was only a few years back, i totally could not recall how i lived through my junior college years.

I use to recall how in primary school we challenge each other to how many phone numbers we can memorise. It kind of also add a very personal feeling to the person whose number you can remember. I guess this kind of game no longer exist yah?

Coming to the late problem, how true it is! haha. Yes, I recall before I have a handphone, I use to make sure I cover every detail before setting off to the meeting place, and I was never late. Once handphones come in, I began to take many things for granted and often many details were not covered until the day of meeting such as the confirmed place to meet or time to meet.

I only hope that technology can be viewed more as a tool and not a way of life as Junyen fears.

August 26, 2008 at 11:13 PM  

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