HOW FAR CAN COMMUNICATION GO?

CHRISTY ANN BALITA

Providing a concrete definition of the process of communication stirred too much thought since communicators assumed that a definition of it has already been established, considering the pervasiveness and the ease that any speaker experience in its execution. However, scholars, in the process, realized that communication is not easy to define. Establishing a concrete definition of what communication is about may set limitations or restrictions on the process and may also require a certain goal or function that it must achieve in its use. In addition, once a particular phrase or description is provided, the process of communication may reach an idle state because it may fail to attract attention from the scholars since they may consider it useless to discuss or argue about something that is already established. Ideas or explanations about the subject matter may be revised year after year to save it from being obsolete. Where a supposedly established definition of the process of communication fails, its significance, functions, and limitations fill what a single description fails to provide. Speakers overlooked this crisis thinking that communication ends when it has completed its supposed function- to express, share, and influence. But as we try to examine the process, we have come to consider where, to some degree, communication fail. Every person has their unique ways of expressing their thoughts and their emotions, either in a verbal or a non-verbal manner. Verbal communication includes written and oral manners in communicating while the non-verbal covers body language or the gestures that a person exhibits. When words fail to assure sincerity in a persons intentions, gestures and other cues are the best ways to prove it. However in this case, problems arise when the receiver fails to accurately interpret the signals and instead assumes otherwise. For example, simple acts such as burping in the middle of a dinner may signify that you are already full when in fact you are not. Immediately leaving the dinner table without permission may be seen as an act of disrespect when the truth is you have a very important matter to attend to and asking for permission may be out of the question. Or refusing a friends invitation to his birthday could mean that you are not as enthusiastic about your relationship as he is.

The product of communication may oftentimes depend on the personality of the person. Shy persons have difficulty in raising their opinions so the discussion may not be as productive as it could have been. Other speakers tend to dominate a particular conversation leaving others with no opportunity to share their thoughts. In this case, communication fails in drawing an important discussion because the significant thoughts are left unshared. Another limitation may be brought about by the differences in personal experience that every speaker went through. What is easy to explain and discuss for a particular speaker may not be easy to absorb by the listener not because of the language used or the way in which the thought was presented but on the unfamiliarity and the detachment of the latter on the subject matter. For example, a former OFW who is ranting about his experiences and the difficulties he went through working on a foreign land may not gain full sympathy from his friend because the latter did not underwent the same hardships. He may feel sorry for the fate of his friend but it will end there, as compared to a certain get-together that all abused overseas workers arranged where they discuss their situation in the foreign land. The success of relaying information or even simply thoughts or realizations can be measured by its effect on the listeners. Talks or discussions about the perils of raising a child at a very young age may not be as productive if the listeners seem apathetic about the subject matter and refused to share it to others. Here, communication may fail not because of the process itself but on the receivers of the information or thought. Then the effects of communication theories may follow. As an effective way of describing what communication is, these theories also have extended their significance on other existing fields of learning. In the field of psychology, studies on communication resulted to the findings that the process is a particular kind of behaviour motivated by different psychological processes. Memory, perception, and other factors such as fears or a speakers subjective reality may affect the process. For example, inconsistency in thought may affect the conversation that the speaker is into. Talking about cars and unconsciously picking up from where his friends last words may result to an unproductive and ambiguous situation. Fears, like stage fright or simply a persons lack in self-esteem, may result to a rather silent and oftentimes associated with boring conversation. Sociology, which is focusing on the society and social processes, sees communication as one of the many important social factors in the society. Through simple talks or conversations with neighbours, a peaceful community is formed. Parents deal with problems in

the family by discussing it with their children. Enemies compromise by having a conversation with each other. Misunderstandings are settled through a conversation. Differences are bridged by finding out some interests that the parties may share together and that is through having some chitchat. Animosity is prevented by having a small conversation. In the field of anthropology, on the other hand, the process is considered as a factor that helps develop, maintain, and change cultures. Introducing oneself in a new culture can be made easier by first learning the language spoken by the people in that community. By knowing their language, it will be easier to adopt and to adjust to the people and the traditions, norms, and culture that they have. Similarly, a community will be able to preserve and diversify their culture by, for example, developing and exploring the language that they use which embodies the entire culture and tradition that they has. Engaging oneself in a conversation and exposing oneself on the history of its early people and participating in the rituals that they continue to perform; one is able to acknowledge the practices that they performed and will be able to document them so that it can also be shared and introduced to other people. It may have been difficult to capture communication in such a way that science or mathematics has been defined, but its significance on the experiences of its speakers and listeners, and on its influences on the studies conducted by other fields of learning, has proved to improve the people practising it, regardless of its limitations.