Losing the art of human communication

IN its simplest form, human communication is the act of imparting to or exchanging information with other human beings.

There are three parts to human communication - behaviour, speaking and writing - all of which are subject to interpretation by the receiving party. Successful communication leads to agreement; unsuccessful communication leads to all sorts of problems between individuals, groups, businesses and nations. Good communication skills are therefore highly desirable in all forms of human interaction.

So where do we stand in 2016? We are living in the Age of Communications, so called because the technology we use to transmit information has expanded dramatically in the last half century and continues to develop every day. When I was born, the ability to travel was limited and few people interacted outside their own local community. There was a telephone/telegraph system with rudimentary (and expensive) ways to reach out to others far away. The commonest form of written communication was the handwritten letter delivered by the postman. Television had been invented, but very few people had access to it and relied on the radio and newspapers for outside information. Entertainment was local, with the theatre and the cinema providing exposure to other societies. Reading books was the chief source of knowledge and leisure.