The Purpose of Communication

Every once in a while I find myself contemplating what I call larger than life questions. They range from "Is there life on other planets?" and "What is life?" to "Is there life after death?" and "Will I ever learn to balance my checkbook?" For me, at least, there is no answer to those questions, especially, I am embarrassed to admit, that last one. (But I am happy to report that I am a lot better at it than I used to be.) Another one of those kind of questions I have been wrestling with lately revolves around the purpose of communication. What is it? Fortunately, for decades now a number of eminent scholars have been examining this particular question as well. My interpretation of their work boils down to the conclusion that one key purpose of communication is two-old: to inform and to be informed.

On the one hand, there are those who want to let others know what they are thinking, wanting, feeling, selling, doing, etc. And on the other hand, there are those who want to know what others are thinking, wanting, selling, doing, etc. On the surface, these are two different kinds of people or communicators. Yet, more often than not, those seemingly opposite people with their different purposes for communicating actually represent the desires of the same person. You and me. We all go through our personal and professional lives in which we communicate with others with these dual purposes that are often dictated by what we are doing, who we are with, and the goals that happen to be before us at that time.

It is a combination of the two purposes that creates a dialog or what many, including me, view as being the most effective form of communication. An exchange of information, thoughts, feelings, activities, etc. helps people and publics make a connection that leads to greater understanding, possible unity, deeper appreciation and lasting awareness. It is the best communicators who understand that those two-fold purposes of informing and being informed go hand-in-hand and must be part of every effort to reach-out to another or to others. This seems simple enough, yet we only have to look at the many missed signals and misunderstandings that occur in our own lives and in the world around us to see how often the two-fold purpose of communication is ignored.