LOST INFORMATION

When I mapped out this little lesson for my 7th grade Communications class, it struck me as worth preserving here.

In this class, we talk about various aspects of communication, miscommunication, and improving our skills. We just finished a few lessons on nonverbal cues - things like body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. 

These nonverbals truly communicate more than the words themselves at times, but the full array of nonverbals are only available to us in face to face interactions. 

Here's my illustration on the whiteboard about what happens as we move from face-to-face interactions to video calls (like Zoom meetings) to phone calls to text messages and emails:

With each step away from face-to-face, we lose valuable information. Body language disappears (mostly) in a video call, while body language AND facial expressions disappear in a phone call. By the time we get to text messages and emails, we have lost everything but the words themselves.

And to illustrate to my class how relatively UNimportant the words themselves can be, I asked them to imagine the following scenario:

I walk into the classroom at the beginning of the period and say, "You guys are something else!" 

The meaning of the words is incredibly ambiguous without knowledge of any accompanying nonverbal cues.

If I stomp into the room and glare at them, frowning, with my arms crossed in front of my chest, and declare, "You guys are something else!" in a sarcastic tone, it means I am angry with them.

But if I stride into the classroom with a big smile on my face, point at the students with both arms extended, and say, "You guys are something else!" in a sincere tone, my words mean the exact opposite: I am quite pleased with the class. 

I concluded this lesson with a practical application that I remind you of here: any communication that is - or might become - emotionally charged should be done face to face if possible. Text messages and emails are in the Danger Zone for such communication.