For the Communication Student...

So, I was going through some old files on my jump drive, and came across an oldie but goodie from the college days... The professor in my Senior Seminar class asked us to write a one-page paper that answers the question, "What is communication?" It's been a long time since I blogged, so I figured, what better way to get back into it than to share what I am thinking about right now...

Communication

“Persuasion.  Influence.  Understanding people.  Sales.  TV Broadcasting.  Public speaking.”  While these common misconceptions about the definition of communication help us describe what we can do with an educational background in the field, they do not get to the meat of what Communication truly is.  More often than not, people take communication for granted.  When asked this difficult question, “What is communication?” we often hear canned responses such as those with an occasional, “Communication is everything we do!” or “Without communication we wouldn’t exist today.”  While all these things are true, a similar observation could be made by a kindergartner.  To a college graduate in the field, communication should be something we define ourselves by.  As a Communication student, I overanalyze every bit of information that I perceive and assign some kind of psychological or emotional value to these perceptions.  I am constantly analyzing these perceptions and their value to uncover-on the deepest level-what inspired them, what perpetuates them, and, of course, how and why they were perceived.

Communication is a bit like Buddhism.  Our Nirvana or “Enlightenment” is the acceptance of one set of ideas globally.  If “red” could just be “red” and not “rojo,” “rouge,” “rot,” “rosso,” “vermelho,” “Červená,” “红色,” or “الأحمر,” all the world’s problems would be solved.  It sounds a bit farfetched, but most people look at conflict as a difference of opinion, two or more opposing viewpoints.  If you really think about it, there is no such thing as having opposing viewpoints.  Red will always look the same whether it is called rojo, rouge, rot, rosso, or anything else for that matter.  It’s not then, a matter of opposing viewpoints, but rather a matter of simple mis-communication.  Somewhere along the line of human existence, the “telephone game” got screwed up, and what was once “red” was mis-communicated as “rojo” and so on.  This simple idea applies to the root of every conflict; somewhere in its lineage, every conflict starts with a mis-communication.  Communication students are not only responsible, but also OBLIGATED in our ability to overanalyze, decode, interpret, understand, evaluate, assign meaning, persuade, influence, sell, publicly speak, whatever! We are obligated to bridge the communication gaps in the world. No matter your field, communication is...calibrating.

Your thoughts?