Corrupted Communication

Did you know that our communication skills are being corrupted? No, it’s not some foreign government; it’s our teenage children and our education system.

Verbal Communications

We are slowly losing our ability to communicate without the assistance of an electronic device. I was out to dinner recently and noticed two young couples sitting at a table near me with their heads bowed. At first I thought they were saying grace until I noticed that each one of them was using cell phones. There was only limited verbal conversation during the meal.

Or maybe you have seen the commercial where the grandmother gives her grandson a graduation gift? He is standing no more than a couple of feet directly in front of her and he texts her “Thank You” rather than simply saying thank you verbally.

Verbal communication is not the only communication being impacted by the technology revolution.

Written Communications

Written communications are also being attacked. Our society is quickly losing its ability to communicate via cursive writing. For the most part an elementary student today probably can’t write in cursive, much less read it. However, sit one in front of a computer and he is a whiz. More than 40 states no longer require public schools to teach cursive reading and writing but they do emphasize computer skills since this is how tests are administered.

This was brought to light in the murder trial of George Zimmerman. When witness Rachel Jeantel was asked to read a letter in court, she responded, “I don’t read cursive.” She was unable to read the letter because she had never been taught cursive reading and writing.

Texting is replacing the spoken word, and abbreviations are replacing the written word. When my granddaughter sends me a text, I usually have to ask her to decipher the abbreviations sprinkled among the English words. I know a few abbreviations like OMG and LOL, but there are literally hundreds of others.

Before you answer my question at the end of the blog, here are some things you might want to consider:

•         A recent study showed that many people with cell phones prefer texting over a phone call. This creates a communication divide between the talkers and the texters.
•         Americans ages 18 to 29 receive an average of 88 text messages per day, compared to only 17 phone calls.
•         The number of text messages sent each month has sky rocketed from 14 billion in 2000 to 188 billion in 2010, according to a Pew Institute survey.
•         The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), for the most part, requires a cursive signature on financial documents and will not accept printed signatures.
•         Cursive writing is usually faster and more efficient than printed writing.
•         The need to teach both print and cursive writing has been questioned by the teaching community.
•         Very few adults use cursive as their day-to-day writing.
•         Most of our communication is done by keyboard or printing.
•         Experts say that cursive handwriting training for young children may help develop hand-eye coordination, refine motor skills, and other brain memory functions.

Is cursive reading and writing needed in today’s world where smart phones, iPads, and laptops rule the communications world?  Are your communication skills being corrupted? What do you think?

How We Learn

Gerald Celente, author of the 1997 book Trends 2000, predicted that interactive, online leaning would revolutionize education and training. He also predicted that, “in the 21^st century, online learning would constitute 50% of all learning, education, and training.” He was right on both accounts.

The standard for training accountants has long been in the form of an information transfer with an instructor standing in front of an audience lecturing on a specific topic. However the traditional lecture is not the only way to learn.

In certain ways, online learning can be better than classroom learning because participants can:

•          Learn during their peak learning times.
•          Learn at their own speed.
•          Focus on specific content areas.
•          Test themselves daily.

Online learning can also be better for businesses than traditional training methods because technology can:

• Drive down costs.
• Deliver information more quickly.

Studies show that how an individual learns is usually determined by the method of learning they experienced in school and growing up, which to a certain extent, is determined by when they were born and how much access to technology they had.

There are three groups of learners most affected by the advances in technology:

                                            Born between

          Baby Boomers            1946 and 1964

          Generation X               1965 and 1980

          Millennials (Gen Y)       1980 and 2000

I am part of the Baby Boomer generation, and I learned primarily through lecture, reading, taking notes, and class participation. My learning was not impacted as significantly by technology since I grew up before computers and the Internet were an integral part of everyday life. As you might expect, I prefer live instructor-led training.

Jonathan Krafchick pointed out in an Accounting Today article (The Way We Learn Now), that younger generations “have all experienced shifts in technology in very different ways and the reaction of each generation has been just as different... Gen Xers adopted technology as it matured and tend to view it as an optional and preferred convenience, whereas, Millennials view technology as a standard and, good or bad, the primary means of connection.”  

When online learning is combined with more interactive instructor-led training, it will easily outperform the one-size-fits-all, traditional delivery method.

Kraftcheck summed it up well by recommending that, “When teaching just one generation, simply speak to your audience the way they tend to understand: lecture for Boomers, case studies for an audience of Xers, and interactive discussion with the Gen Ys.”

As predicted, the Internet has changed the preferred method of learning from the traditional lecture method to online learning. For course designers, the challenge for meeting professionals’ training needs will be to design programs that can appeal to all the different learning styles and methods of all adult learners.

What do you think?