Problems with Assuming

Communication is one of the most amazing things we have for understanding each other. Everything we do, say, or don't say is a form of communication. I think it would be an accurate statement to say that we never stop communicating. The problem with there being both verbal and non-verbals ways to communicate is that not everyone interprets messages the same. Communication varies by culture, gender, relgion, families, and individuals. What happens in communication is that we all have some sort of attached meaning to different verbals and nonverbals based on our prior experience with those interactions and from those interactions we derive a certain meaning. One very important thing we must understand is that not everyone shares our same meaning behind certain words or body languages. When we assume that people do share the same meaning as us then we begin to draw conclusions and make assumptions about what another person is trying to say to us. This type of miscommunication can produce a lot of confusion and damage if we are not careful. It is better to assume people have good intentions while interacting with us rather than to assume the worst. If we do think someone is conveying a certain message we are unhappy or unsure about we can always clarify with them to make sure we are interpretting them correctly. There are times we will need to make sure we clarify messages to make sure that people on both ends of the communication interaction are on the same wave length especially if those people are not interacting face to face. It has been said that 14% of communication come from words, 35% from tone, and 51% from nonverbal means. Isn't that interesting?! That 86% of our communication is non-verbal! With that in mind, when we talk to people on the phone we are losing out on 51% of the message, when we text others we lose out on 86% and even when we are face to face our different interpretations of words, tone, and nonverbals, allow us to lose out on a certain amount of the meaning of someone's message as well if we interpret them differently than how they were ment.

It is important that we all try to improve our communication both by trying to more accuratly portray what we mean and not trying to have others assume the correct meaning as well as giving others the benefit of the doubt and seeking to clarify their meaning if we are confused or unsure to make sure there is a better communication occuring.