Words and Meaning in Cyberspace
We may scratch designs on the caves of Lascaux, or post our ideas on the Motley Fool stock boards---either way we humans have a need to express ourselves. We seek to be connected. Unfortunately, our messages some times misfire and leave us more disconnected than when we started. In cyberspace, communication is especially difficult as so many clues once relied on no longer exist. The visual clues of physical presence are missing, so too the auditory clues picked up in conversation. Faced with blank computer screens and a motley arrangement of ciphers we call a keyboard, we're an impoverished lot, with only words to express ourselves.
Lacking body and voice, we can neither dazzle with winning smiles and seductive voices nor impress with Schwartzeneggar physiques and Bruce Willis grins. We're on our own. And maybe that's not so bad. It's refreshing to communicate without being distracted by someone's purple hair or shaved head, without scrutinizing some guy's Ralph Lauren jacket or Piaget watch, or analyzing someone's color of skin or gender preference. Still---apart from the benefits gained---many subtleties are lost. How can I know you're teasing if I can't see the twinkle in your eyes? How know you're pleased if I don't see your face soften into a smile? How know something's wrong without seeing your wrinkled brow or tense expression?
When Emily Dickinson wrote, "I like a look of agony/ Because I know it's true," she knew words could lie. It's no less true today. Faced with a computer screen and keyboard, we're asked to communicate subtleties once carried by body language and tone of voice. Anger, sorrow, pleasure, distrust, humor. Where once a slight change of voice did the trick, words now must fill the void. If they don't, the reader will.
Recently I participated in a fax blitz to CNBC's Joe Kernen, unaware that some would send angry messages and not the playful tweakings I imagined. It all began when Joe referred to Iomega's earnings as "disappointing," when in reality they were spectacular. And for those of us upset by this slight, it seemed appropriate to express our views. Unfortunately, what started as an innocent expression of concern turned into a barrage of vitriol. Because we didn't specifically choose to be gentle, not angry, we sent a message that wasn't intended. Had the suggestion been given in person, the tone would have been light and affirmed what we already knew---that Joe was one of CNBC's best, that he made a mistake, that our intent was to show support for Iomega, not to denigrate a personality. Maybe even a slight teetering of the hand would have said, "Keep it light. We're not angry, here."
Left on our own in a medium still in its infancy, we're challenged to say what needs to be said with as little ambiguity as possible. In the future, before pressing "send," I'll ask myself if my words express not only my thoughts, but the feelings behind them. Lacking the benefit of physical presence and verbal inflections, our words have an enormous weight to carry. In this global village we call cyberspace, our quality of life depends on them and whatever signals can be derived from them. The community will succeed only to the extent our communication succeeds. Let's keep the words flowing---and for Joe's sake, the smiles, too.
[Editor's note: Giveme1234 is Pat to her friends in Del Mar, California, and Patricia Rowland Mudge to her colleagues in England and Scotland where she's spent portions of the last four years researching the life of Edwin Muir. Besides writing and investing---and getting her last daughter through high school---she enjoys watercolor painting, old books, foreign films, snow skiing, and the Motley Fool. Her favorite quote is from English artist Henry Moore, who said, "The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is---it must be something you cannot possibly do!"]
by Giveme1234