Information Is Not Necessarily Communication

Below is a post from Noah’s blog on Psychology Today:

With all the tweeting, blogging, and big data white noise trumpeting its cacophony, the ground shift has moved from the social ethic of doing what you say to the social byword of saying what you are doing. But information, no matter the device that dresses it, isn’t necessarily communication. And it’s time to turn down the noise that passes for news.

We are awash in information and in a drought of communication. We are told that you can drown in three inches of water. And as societies we are drowning in the shallows of the info seas.

The banalities of what is posted are only made worse when celebrated by calibrating the tally of how many people are reading it. In this posting boasting, celebrities and celebrity status can magnetize millions of followers – until tomorrow when they will follow someone else. Think of Lemmings texting and no one keeping an eye on the cliff.

This same commitment to drive undermines and plagues relationships. Certainly what isn’t said between people is also heard. I’d say we have a telegraphic attention span but telegrams no longer communicate the transfer of information fast enough or minimally enough. Now the challenge to achieve stupidity or vacuous observations instantaneously and with as much multiplicity as possible is wed to stardom. Worth noting however is that what makes stars bright is the surrounding nothingness.

It used be that when people travelled they would send post-cards telling in long hand what they were doing, wishing you were here. Now there is no there, there. This is about being lost in the dystopia of big data and not wanting to wait to share the good news.

So my BFF, forget about regurgitating and assuming its reflection. No one’s life is necessarily interesting just because it happened to them.

And in the land of dealing cards from the top of the deck, here’s the info. No one’s life is better because they just heard about what color thong you’re wearing. No one’s hunger is abated because they just learned what kind of pizza you are thinking of eating in the next moment with your special nobody who last week was the perfect. The Mona Lisa is still worth seeing but no one needs to see what you look like on Instagram with spinach stuck between your teeth. And this advice is the difference between information and communication.

From my perspective, LOL. We’ll all need it.

Noah benShea
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