How we connect needs to change – the status quo ain’t working

The saying ‘If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,’ has always been part of the communicator’s lexicon. Getting to less is hard. But we’ve taken Blaise Pascal’s quip, written in 1657, too far. We’ve reduced it to a meme, a tweet (an ‘X’), and now too frequently, an anonymous comment.

Post by post and tweet by tweet, social media has crept into our communications spaces and become so entirely prevalent as to all but elbow out the possibility of expanded thought, nuance and paradox. While not all the doing of social media (there is still a lot of love in our love-hate relationship with these tools), the influence of social on all forms of how we communicate has spread far beyond its channels.

Everywhere we see how complex stories are reduced to a shortform or soundbite. Equally, the deeply practiced lessons from social media have stripped us of the human need to take time to consider a new story or idea. Instead, the pressure to respond feels immediate. There’s an urgency to agree or disagree; to be on one side or another, my side or theirs.

This behaviour appeals to base humanity. It begs the question: why bother participating in society at all?

For this reason, of all the crises in play, and there are many, I’d argue the greatest is one of communication.

Right now, on our streets, in our universities, and across our organizations, it is difficult to find safe spaces for connection and communication. Debate over the most difficult of subjects used to be considered an art form and the backbone of the institutions we were building. ?

Now, debate elicits fear, and our great storytellers are losing their voice. Across Canada and beyond, journalists (especially women) are leaving their craft because of the vitriol thrown their way. Our professors and U.S. deans hide behind legalese in a shoddy attempt to (ironically) mitigate free speech on campuses. CEOs are verbally attacked and put on notice for trying to communicate the happenings of a deeply complicated multi-millennia conflict in the Middle East. Being a leader and speaking up has suddenly become a risky business, so many of those most suited for the post are talking less, or worse, are walking away. Understandably so.

If our storytellers within communities, politics, and business are being forced to shy away from participating in debate out of fear or, heaven forbid, ‘getting it wrong,’ then how we move forward as a broader society is very unclear. Silence is an action and a card to be played with purpose; it should never be forced upon us and certainly cannot become the de facto position.

What if there was space for nuance, paradox and discussion? What if, instead of saying or writing less, we flipped Pascal’s logic and allowed for more time to share, listen and learn? We’d need to ensure we could find value in this kind of exchange, even if couldn’t be boiled down to 280 characters.

Could we rely on or develop new channels and means of engagement so the millions could be heard, but with less fear and more space?

Voices are there. People are taking to the streets; they’re angry, and loud. There is an abundance of noise launched in every direction, but so much of it is landing without connection. Millions of people yelling in the wind, is just wind. So how do we better capture the multitude of ideas in more productive ways?

We’ve done it before.

During the pandemic, we faced an onslaught of new communications challenges – how to reach, teach, influence and guide behaviours, while also keeping people safe. Old ways wouldn’t work when the stakes were so high. We needed new platforms and methods as well as new standards and expectations.

Today, it’s not a global pandemic, but instead global politics that challenge the status quo of how we communicate. Like the pandemic, geopolitical as well as pan-political realities, such as the climate crisis and the withering of post-colonial trade patterns, means there are new sets of systemic changes that need to be considered and woven into how we share and exchange.

There is a tangible desperation to find ways to re-engage and communicate with each other.

The answer must be in finding new space and time that allow for questions to be asked, to learn and listen to difference.

The hard work will be in getting this done. How do we find ways to convene, survey and capture many voices so that each contributes through connection, rather than circling in isolation?

We need to be dogged in using communications techniques that enable:

·???????? Two- and multi-way dialogue rather than one-way ‘information pushes’ – demanding more from education, consultation and hierarchical models

·???????? Information exchange across traditional knowledge areas, such as departments or groups – encouraging people to share and integrate with colleagues, communities or even opponents

·???????? Transparency and empowerment – discouraging or penalizing online anonymity

·???????? Data sharing to accomplish common goals – challenging the ways politics, marketing and sales pit people against one another and instead bring groups together

So, while concise communication is critical and will always have a place, we also need to retrain our brains and reconsider our behaviours so our kids are prepared for connection beyond the world of social media. We need to be skilled-up to consider and participate in the very real, complex and nuanced issues demanding our attention.

This level of change won’t be easy, but if it means storytellers and leaders, and each of us, feel safe to engage fully once again, I’d like to think that’s more than worth the effort.