zlacker

Whenever articles like this about communication crop up, I like to remind people of Wiio's Laws[0] - from 1978:

    1. Communication usually fails, except by accident.
    2. If a message can be interpreted in several ways, it will be interpreted in a manner that maximizes the damage.
    3. There is always someone who knows better than you what you meant with your message.
    4. The more we communicate, the worse communication succeeds.
    5. In mass communication, the important thing is not how things are but how they seem to be.
    6. The importance of a news item is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
    7. The more important the situation is, the more probable you had forgotten an essential thing that you remembered a moment ago.

Just to reiterate, these laws are over 40 years old, predating any kind of social media or internet-based communication - and they're still 100% valid.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiio%27s_laws

>>theshr+(OP)
5. In mass communication, the important thing is not how things are but how they seem to be.

This hits particularly hard for me. End of last year I was finishing a bigger group project where actual PM was AWOL. Perception, especially in corporate environments, is everything.

>>A4ET8a+Hf
Then things are interpreted through the lens of "how they are supposed to seem to be."

>>theshr+(OP)
But they are not before the TV, the Telegraph, the Film, the Printing Press or the Story.

I'm not sure they are 'valid' but they are interesting. I think its more of a negative take, to highlight difficulties. I don't think they are always true. For example "4. The more we communicate, the worse communication succeeds." seems the opposite of say televisual political messaging which relies on bombardment of essentially false information to convey meaning and proposed societal behaviour.