“Don’t react – act” I try to live by this, but in this day of email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, Telegram, Messenger, tic tok (not a clue about this, but I do know it’s a big thing!) it’s so easy, when something grinds, to get your fingers working on the keyboard to make your point with exclamation marks!!!

I almost did this today, so close, but I decided to blog instead because only those who want to read it, will.

It seems to me that communication is regarded as unimportant (to some) today. Here are some things that I think should be cancelled!

Thumbs up emoji

Now, before you get a bit twitchy if you use the thumbs up emoji, let me explain. If you’ve had a long conversation with someone that’s come to an end, one of you may do the sign off and thumbs up is more than appropriate. What isn’t, in my opinion, is when you pour your heart out and take 5 minutes to write a message and the reply is the thumbs up emoji! Has it ever happened to you? It’s not nice is it?

Not answering emails or messages

I ALWAYS reply to messages, usually quickly too. If you’re reading this and I didn’t reply to you, it is honestly because I either never got it or it slipped past me, if you know me well, you’ll know that I do reply. It seems, even when you get to the top of the ladder, that it’s OK not to reply. When you don’t get a reply from someone, it makes you feel unimportant. I feel like writing some times and saying ‘hey, I have a gift of some money for you’ just to see if that would get a response. How do you get to the top of your game and still have that trait? Someone needs to coach you if you’re in that place. You should never think you’re too important to reply to someone who has taken the time the time write to you.

Salutation

I try and start all my messages with at least ‘hi’ and, most times, I use the person’s name and I’ll sign off with either my name or an emoji (not the thumbs up one! Hahaha).  If you chat to someone a lot then this isn’t as important, but when you haven’t talked to someone for ages and you’re discussing something that’s a big deal to you, at least consider the other person. Do you remember learning how to write letters at school? There were correct salutations depending on who you were writing to. Using a pen or an old typewriter meant you took much more time to write and your thinking went into it. You didn’t want to have to start again with either ink or a typewriter. Tipex looked terrible and didn’t really do a good job especially for me as I didn’t have the patience to wait for it to dry! I’m not suggesting we go back to those days, although I still use a pen and paper in certain situations, I’m just saying maybe we need to think more about what the person receiving our message will feel after they’ve read it. Read before you click send.

Maybe because communication is so easy now, we’ve lost the skill.  I pray that I will never get too busy to reply properly to every communication that comes my way. As my teacher would write often, ‘could do better’ If necessary, let’s do better at communication.