U Don’t Know What U Don’t Know…

Digital communication is the electronic exchange of information. This type of communication takes the form of email, chat, and social networking, (facebook, myspace). You may feel that students are quite savvy in communicating in this digital world, and for the most part, you’d be right. These students know how to get their message out there, but does everyone understand what they are saying? I’m not just talking msn type-lingo, (those abbreviations that baffle many of us… btw nmjc cu) For many kids, a text only message can be difficult to completely understand. Many visual learners rely on facial features, and hand gestures to understand. Many auditory learners rely on the voice intonation to understand. And some of us benefit from all of this! Hence the creation of emoticons, those smiley, frowning symbols that help others to understand our digital messages. But, for some people, these emoticons just add one more layer on confusion, (just look at all the emoticons for the smiley face alone!). For instance, let’s look at the following:1] oic 2] OIC 3] oic 4] oic :C

For some of you, confusion may have started with #1…what does oic even mean? oic means “oh, I see.” Now that we understand the acronym, let’s move on to #2. This one is written in all caps, which, in the digital world, can mean yelling. What does a yelling “oh, I see” mean? that’s really up to interpretation. On to #3, oic + the standard smiley—meaning, the person understands and is okay about it. On to #4, oic+ very sad smiley—meaning, the person understands but is very sad with the result. WOW, (no, I don’t mean World of Warcraft, I just mean wow!), there’s a lot to learn about this digital communication.

Some of you may be thinking, “well, yes, but these kids learn it fast.” True, but not all of them. Many cases of cyber-bullying could be stopped if we taught our students how to write and read digital communications. Kids should start with email, a form that allows them to think about what they are saying. The world of MSN and chat is so fast that people new to the lingo can easily get lost and misunderstand what is being said. This can lead to hurt feelings and angry replies. It is also important to talk to students about “writing in anger.” Rule of thumb: if you feel you need to write it, go ahead; BUT, don’t send it for 48 hours. Wait until your emotions have cooled down, then reread it. In most cases you will choose to delete it. Students need to know that digital communication may not always be the best approach. There are times when it is more appropriate to use the phone, or talk in person.

Lastly, I was recently talking with a business executive about the world of digital communication. One of the interesting points that this person brought up was that he found his younger employees felt they could say anything they wanted through email as long as they put a smiley face behind it. He shook his head and said he has spoken to more than one person about this. Digital communication is truly a skill our students need for their future success