Oddbean

Humans tend to interpret more into a statement than explicitly said or expressed. What a human is expressing, and how another human response, is connected to a lot of individual perception under the surface. Currently, I am learning to more intentionally filter what another individual wants to express with their statement and to be aware of the aspects to which my response is connected. Misunderstanding in our communication might be something we still have to develop a lot further in order to live in better harmony & understanding with each other. #communication

I often notice this tendency within myself sometimes. It might result from self-projection & also maybe our habit of categorizing people, causing us to overanalyze their statements. Nevertheless, I think this approach isn't conducive to effective communication. I strive to treat each person as an individual. Each person is different and complex.

Yeah I also notice that with myself very often, too! And it’s really not so easy because we’re still humans, driven by our emotions and values. And about categorizing each other, in the first place we need to categorize or our brain would be overwhelmed. But what if we shrink the amount of categories? That’s what I was thinking. You could have a category for people that really did you wrong, and one that’s called „just an individual“ and maybe over time, it’s not such a big deal anymore! Just a thought… 😊

Just yesterday I had an exchange with Will about the issue of the purple badge in Damus and in the end the result was that he thought I wanted to criticise him just for the sake of it, like any troll. I felt extremely mortified for not getting my point across, especially his reaction, almost as if I had offended him. Communication is important, but misunderstandings are always lurking, especially for me not knowing English.

Im sorry for that, it really sucks when a discussion ends in misunderstanding! And yeah, communication in english not as a mother language is even more difficult. I like your curiosity and your engagement here 💪🏼 and maybe sometimes we need to better sense if it’s worth it to discuss something. And this situation is probably not that bad, you got this! :)

I come across this so often due to communication via text. Tone of voice, facial and other physical expressions, etc are taken out of the equation and can lead to misunderstanding when you don’t have those subtle visual and audible cues to sense the full context and meaning of what someone is saying. It’s why emojis and memes can help with expression 🙂