There have been many times in my life where texting has created many problems. Social media is used by people all over the world. More specifically, texting is the number one way to communicate with others. I can say that I personally use text to communicate rather than call or talk to someone in person. There are many benefits to texting someone. It is easy, quick, you can do it anywhere, etc. Not only that, but you are able to have multiple conversations at once with multiple people while also being able to do other things. I do find that texting is an easy and great way to communicate, however, it has its downsides.
Texting can also be a difficult way to communicate with others because it causes many miscommunications. I myself have been in many situations where I got into a fight with someone due to texting reasons. The reason for this is that it is difficult to understand how a person is saying something over text. Text messages are unable to convey tone, emotion, facial expressions, gestures, body language, eye contact, etc. These are common reasons why a text message will be misinterpreted or misunderstood.
One time that really stood out to me where I experienced text message miscommunication was with my bestfriend. My bestfriend and I text all day everyday updating eachother about our lives. It is so normal for us to be texting and we are able to understand eachother very well. most of the time. There was one occurance where we did not that started a whole fight between us. We were texting about hanging out and I was unable to. I had to cancel on our plans and I guess the way I worded it sounded like I had “something better to do” however, I was seriously not able to make it. In my head I thought I sounded sincere, but over text she did not convey it that way. This lead her to respind rudely which started a whole fight between us. We were going back and forth over text and it was not resolving anything.
Finally, I decided to show up to her house over person and explain myself and allowed her to explain herself. When I said what I had previously said over text in person, she had a completely different reaction. We were able to see how my text could have sounded mean in the first place. I also was able to see that there is a pattern with texting and communication. It has happened not just in this scenerio, but in many others as well. I am aware that whenever I talk in person or face to face with the person that the issue is solved and we are able to see the miscommunication. It is hard to fully understand how someone is saying something when it is over text which causes there to be many issues with texting.
I realted this story to study I read by Justin Kruger, Nicholas Epley, Jason Parker, and Zhi-Wen Ng. The article discusses how without the benefit of paralinguistic cues such as gesture, emphasis, and intonation, it can be difficult to convey emotion and tone over electronic mail (e-mail). Five experiments suggest that this limitation isoften underappreciated, such that people tend to believe that they can communicate over e-mail more effectively than they actually can” (Kruger et al., 2005).
Kruger, J., Epley, N., Parker, J., & Ng, Z. (2005). Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 925-936. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.6.925
Technology has made major advances in the communication world and has helped communication in many aspects. As you pointed out, the absence of facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures sometimes makes it difficult to understand the intent of the message someone has sent over text. The absence of these cues makes us try to decipher on our own the intent of the message based on how we know and feel about the person (Hagan, 2015). This leads to assumptions about what the message is meaning which can lead to miscommunication. Words sent in a text can be understood by individuals in a number of ways (Hagan, 2015). The way I understand a statement sent via text may be different from the way that you understand it or the way your friend understands it. Interpretations of texts can vary for everyone based on how they view the message (Hagan, 2015). I believe that tone of voice is the most important factor to consider when understanding the message someone is conveying. The tone of voice clarifies and conveys meaning to statements (Team, 2021). Simple statements can be sent over text that can be deciphered by receivers in many different ways because the text lacks tone of voice. One example of a statement that can be taken a number of ways based on how the receiver views it is “I don’t know.” Without tone of voice, the receiver can read this statement differently than how the sender intended for it to be expressed (Team, 2021). A solution I would recommend for you and many others to avoid miscommunication occurring over text is to use the audio message feature on phones. This allows you to send speaking messages over text. The receiver can listen to your message while hearing your tone of voice. This may prevent miscommunication as the intent of the message is better understood based on how the tone of one’s voice sounds. Have you ever tried audio messages? Do you think this would be a good solution to avoid miscommunication over text? Are there other solutions that you have tried to avoid this miscommunication from happening again over text messages?
Hagan, Ekua. “Why Is There So Much Miscommunication Via Email and Text?” Psychology Today, Sussex, 15 Feb. 2015, http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/contemporary-psychoanalysis-in-action/201502/why-is-there-so-much-miscommunication-email-and.
Team, Afterburner. “Why Is Tone so Important When It Comes to Communication in Business?” Afterburner, 11 Mar. 2021, http://www.afterburner.com/why-is-tone-so-important-when-it-comes-to-communication-in-business.
Texting is not easy so I thought too. I text all day throughout my day on daily things that happen in my life to friends and family. I do see how a text can be misrepresented. Like the study they did where participants had to write yes or no for sarcastic or non-sarcastic statements, show that people really do understand b/c of the confidence they have in making the judgement of what is messaged to them (Kruger, 927). I can say I do this as well, thinking that I understand and know exactly what the other person is saying, but in reality I really don’t. The statement can make me sensitive or understand, but I realized that its important to be careful on the interpretation.
Kruger, Justin et al.. Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 89(6). Dec. 2005. pp. 925-936.