Since ancient times symbolism has been part of mankind. I was given this picture (I hate to say take) In December when I went to visit the Mayan Site at Citizen Itza. Visiting at night brought the place alive as we all huddled together in the dark in front of the stars and majestic peaks of the pyramids.I was in awe at the symbols I saw in front of me, around me and searched in my mind and asked my guide for the meaning. (This wasn’t a spiritual guide you will understand but a real human being with a wife and kids to feed)
Symbols have meaning, don’t they?
According to a study by Swyft Media, 74% of people in the US regularly use emoji’s in their communication, using an average of 96 emoji’s every day. These are often symbols showing if we are happy sad confused. According to research when we look at a smiling emoji it activates the same parts of our brain that it would if we were looking at a real human face.
The majority of people in chat rooms at work use these to help us formulate tone and to lessen potentially negative impact. – LOL (see what I mean?)
I used to think LOL meant “lots of love” not “laugh out loud” and feel less loved as a result 📷
We never ask …what was the intent of the communication? What did the sender anticipate or perceive would happen? Many never pause to think this through– our first reaction is one of the recently defined by Glasgow university 4 behaviouralreactions: – happiness, sadness, fear and humour.
Often, we are hurt by people but we cannot look into their brain or conscious to really know what the intent was. As human being’s most of the time we just react. It’s a survival instinct we need to make decisions to survive.
I truly believe no one sets out to upset other people it’s not what we do as human beings. Maybe I am naive but that is where I would like to be with my relationships with people.
I want to be able to cherish the uniqueness of people and their views. (yes, that is hard and a life’s journey but very rewarding)
Once I drove my dad to see a patient when I was learning how to drive as that was a good way of getting the practicing hours in! The “L” Learner symbol was there on the car to show others I was a Learner. Actually, I often wish I still had that on my back to show my lifelong learning.
Any way with the patient’s permission I went in with Dad. The patient didn’t look ill and was talking fluently. It was only when the conversation turned to the people in the television talking to him I realised that he was not well. His perception of the world was completely real to him so for a while we were aligned and I thought him well. It reminds me of One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest– who has the keys is “sane “and those that don’t hold the keys are unwell. How do we really know whose perception is correct?
We all perceive things differently and that’s what makes us unique.
Yes, I am in danger of using these symbols myself J. We use these because we need some tone to our communication when it is in written form when communicating or the intent is not known. We use them to show what groups we are in. Voice has its own tones and our eyes give expression.
We no longer show religious symbols at work because sadly some symbols have the power to also divide us rather unite us.
Symbols are a powerful communication tool to enhance talking. But are we using symbols without understanding their meaning?
If I added this symbols because someone asked me to even if I had no idea as to its meaning ? Is that hidden in plain sight ? Do I hold the keys or do you?
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What difference would that make ?
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Freud reportedly said, and sometimes technology is just a tool. But sometimes it becomes something more. Sometimes technology takes on symbolic, or even religious significance.
Look at the reaction to people Towards Google Glass? I think this came from the fear (basic human reaction) that we may turn into Cyborgs. We want to adopt the Google Glass because of the fear of missing information even though most of it is fake news. So, we have an emotional dilemma.
So, my journey to globally integrate people and technology and the environment with balance will not be an easy journey. Hey – I love a challenge. I hope you do too that’s our biggest challenge for the next 50 years and you thought an ERP system was bad?
We are swiftly moving to video communication but without hearing the words on our phones (most used platform) we will still need written words and a symbol and emoji to understand emotional context. This is something we didn’t need when we could see faces. I fear our children will become immune to emotion that they no longer see its our job to ensure that doesn’t happen. My hope is that we will move back to face to face (without Botox) that allows us to see and feel the whole range of human emotions.
I am in love with Zoom for helping me with this. 📷 heart heart heart (looks weird without the symbol though eh?)
The best connections are still made person to person face to face. We read everything that way instinctively .
So, the answer to the question raised is communication is the common denominator how we do it doesn’t really matter as long as we do it of course remembering communication is two way.
Here is my symbol –
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Waponi™
It represents balance between mankind and our environment and technology.
What symbol motivates you the most? What is your symbol?
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