Communication

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Once you stop banging, it is such a blessed relief.  I was just looking through several tons of ancient documents from my former life as a training consultant, when I came upon this little gem.  “Research suggests that we pay attention to 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% non-verbal.”  If this is true, then what is the point of writing anything down?  I mean, if only 7% of the words have any impact, then I am flogging a dead horse (there, a lovely cliche).

Maybe that 7% “fact” is the reason why many tabloid newspapers are full of big, attention-grabbing, vernacular headlines, a few lines of copy and tons of pictures.  They are so reminiscent of comic books, it might be better for newspapers to adopt that format to actually communicate.  Or possibly, by following the example of children’s reading books,  they should stick pretty pictures throughout the text to capture the interest of, and define meanings for the reader. 

The dumbing-down process in communication extends to every corner of the media world.  Have you watched a TV documentary recently?  Have you noticed how, after every commercial break, the narrator or presenter re-caps the whole kit and caboodle, as if viewers are all intellectually challenged?  The more discerning viewer often shouts at the TV,  or launches some handy missile  towards the screen, or better still, switches off and reads a book.

Reading and writing, then.  Children are encouraged to read and write as soon as they can focus.  With blood, sweat and tears,  they become literate, equipped to communicate their brilliant and innovative thoughts and ideas, born of great imagination and wonder at their discovery of their world.  Ah, but somebody gives them a mobile phone for their seventh birthday – “A safety precaution, you know you can’t be too careful these days, everybody is a potential pedophile,”  so they learn to text.  With little thumbs working overtime, out the window with all those carefully-learned spellings, grammar and punctuation. 

Now, the theory is, you have to know the rules in order to bend them, but somehow, something precious is lost to the world of coherent,  clear communication.  The sad thing is, hardly anyone ever takes a pen and paper, sits down and writes a letter these days.  The art is dying, and the head is now hurting, as it confronts the ever-increasing bulk and numbers of brick walls it must bang against.  Better stop it now, sit down calmly with some vellum, ink and a well-sharpened quill pen and communicate with somebody with a decent attention span.  Who?