TED Conversations

peter lindsay

Physics Teacher,

TEDCRED 30+

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

Is modern communication going to produce a generation that doesn't understand body language or verbal expression?

I am a highschool teacher and a parent of three teenage boys. In the last 5 years the percentage of communicating they do with written language has increased enormously. Is this obsession with txt and facebook destroying their ability to express themselves without emoticons?frownyface

+4
Share:

Closing Statement from peter lindsay

Many commenters share my concern and many see it as just a development of modern society.My main concern still lies with the age at which a child gets a phone. In my experience most have a phone by 12 years old. I worry that they move through adolescence into adulthood with insufficient verbal communication and written communication in single sentences. Maybe as parents we should encourage them to visit each other rather than Txt or facebook. Even if that means we have to drive then somewhere.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • thumb

    Krisztián Pintér 200+

    • 0
    TED Translator
    Aug 2 2012: maybe, but why would that be a problem?
    • thumb

      James Zhang 30+

      • 0
      Aug 2 2012: Having good communication is really the source of a lot of problems. A genius is completely useless if no one else can understand that genius.
      • thumb

        Krisztián Pintér 200+

        • 0
        TED Translator
        Aug 2 2012: ?
        • thumb

          James Zhang 30+

          • 0
          Aug 2 2012: I'm just saying that having good communication, stemming all the way back to a child's birth, is how we maximize our potential as a society.

          Take a basketball team for example. If you have a team full of superstar players, it doesn't mean that the team will be that great. Too many egos, too many disagreements, too many miscommunications, too many people stepping over each other's toes. That team can only be good if they can understand each other and their roles, and acknowledge them. And you do that with effective communication.
      • thumb

        Krisztián Pintér 200+

        • 0
        TED Translator
        Aug 2 2012: yeah, but the question is not communication in general, but body language and verbal
        • thumb

          James Zhang 30+

          • 0
          Aug 2 2012: Body Language and verbal language = communication

          If you're trying to convey a message to something, that's communication imo.
        • thumb

          James Zhang 30+

          • 0
          Aug 2 2012: So you're saying that, specifically the problem is body language and verbal language?
      • thumb

        Krisztián Pintér 200+

        • 0
        TED Translator
        Aug 2 2012: verbal + body does not cover written for example.
        i claim that, as a rule in biology, unused organs atrophied.
        but the cause and effect chain is always this: first it gets unused, then it gets atrophied.
        • thumb

          James Zhang 30+

          • 0
          Aug 2 2012: Nonetheless, it's wrong to not consider them as forms of communication.

          I'm not denying that they're important, Written, body, verbal, sound, visual, touch, programming code, Ted Forum format, Youtube, essay format, etc. These are all forms of communication.

          Slangs and idioms are also another language of communication as well
      • thumb

        Krisztián Pintér 200+

        • 0
        TED Translator
        Aug 2 2012: how about handwriting? paper letters? some forms of communication simply get obsolete.
        • thumb

          James Zhang 30+

          • 0
          Aug 2 2012: Not really, there's still calligraphy, typography. Sure the handwriting and paper letters has been rendered obsolete for things like mail letters or essays.

          But it's not rendered completely obsolete. It will find new purpose and a new place in society. One example: most older artifacts go to museums.

          They are still being interpreted and communicated to historians. They're still a language and communication, albeit a less popular one, but nonetheless one.
        • thumb

          peter lindsay 30+

          • 0
          Aug 2 2012: If I was wanting to communicate something of great importance or emotional impact to some one and I couldn't do it in person I would hand write a letter as it demonstrates a personal involvement in the process.
    • thumb

      peter lindsay 30+

      • 0
      Aug 2 2012: There were two things that inspired this question. The first is I'm intrigued by teenagers inability to percieve sarcasm. I've been a highschool teacher for twelve years and the question "are you being sarcastic?" seems to come up more and more. Also there has been a general increase in violence amongst teens in Australia in the last five years. This is normally attributed to the self-centred teen but I'm thinking it may be related to their inability to correctly decypher eachother's body language.
      • thumb

        Krisztián Pintér 200+

        • +1
        TED Translator
        Aug 2 2012: you need to persist. continue to show them sarcasm. some will get it. we need them to. please don't give up.
      • thumb

        Yuguo Zhang 100+

        • 0
        TED Translator
        Aug 3 2012: Well as a teen myself, I believe sometimes we are just not convinced enough by others' comments. For example, when somebody compliments one's work, he would cautiously ask"are you being sarcastic" to find out what that really meant. And in other cases like when an exam is coming, somebody will yell"Oh, great!", this time I usually say "that better be sarcastic" so that I will make sure he's not nuts... And when a teacher is making a sarcasm, since sarcasm usually creates laughter. we sometimes don't find that funny or assume that the teacher will not make too much sarcasm in class, so we sometimes ask. Nonetheless, I understand your concern and nowadays too much texting and facebooking render teens lose the ability to write a well-crafted essay.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.