An increasing amount of people lack the skills to have a constructive and productive discussion, causing much division in society.
Communication is an essential skill to have. The ability to communicate and work together has helped humans develop into an advanced society. Unfortunately, the ability to civilly discuss any issue has begun to dwindle.
The ultimate goal of effective communication is to share ideas and information in order to reach a consensus. Effective communication leaves all involved parties feeling accomplished and satisfied, as multiple opinions are represented in the group conclusion.
In contrast, many current day discussions often leave those involved feeling dissatisfied, as if they weren’t able to discuss alternative mindsets. “I always hate it when I have a discussion with someone and I come out of it feeling like the other person didn’t listen to a single word I said,” said senior Grant Jaques.
This dissatisfaction is due to the hostile mentality of modern society. Most people treat discussions as a combative opportunity rather than a collaborative one. Conversations are seen as a chance to convey the subjective superiority of one’s own opinion without any intention of compromising personal ideas.
When both or even one party goes into a conversation with this mindset, it is bound to be unproductive and leave both parties feeling dissatisfied. “I often catch myself after having a discussion realizing that I came out of it with nothing because I went in with bad faith,” said Jaques.
Oftentimes, people don’t intend to have such a mindset.
The prevalence of this mindset is a fairly recent phenomenon. There is no one cause but rather a feedback loop. The inability to have meaningful discussions and the maltreatment of those with opposing ideas leads to the division of society over a vast array of subjects, large or small.
This division then perpetuates the mindset that those with differing opinions are wrong and their ideas need to be “beaten” in a debate, creating a very powerful dynamic.
It is perpetuated even further by social media. Personalized feeds favor showing content an account agrees with, causing them to believe that their opinions are correct and any others are wrong. “I have noticed that my feed has started only showing my things I agree with,” said senior Jack Perry.
There is no single solution to this problem, but recognizing the pitfall of this mindset can be the start to changing the negative trend in communication.
