Communication Congestion

I live in Northern Virginia, a part of the country that is characterized by its high level of traffic. It is just outside Washington, D.C. What we affectionately call "the beltway" wraps around the nation's capital. Almost all the time traffic on this stretch of highway is bumper-to-bumper. The result is many of us who live near it do all we can to either avoid it or figure out ways to minimize the amount of time we have to be on it. The downside of that, of course, is often times the so-called side roads off the beltway become congested, too. Consequently, it feels as if we are at a point where traffic congestion in our region is unavoidable.

More and more I am coming to the conclusion the same holds true with communication congestion. There simply seems to be no way to avoid it. In the case of heavy traffic, the highways are filled with drivers intent are trying to get where they are going. That is their "message." In the case of communication, there seems to be an ever-increasing amount of messaging underway, too. More and more, it is becoming a greater challenge for any of us to be heard, to ask questions, to raise concerns, or even enter into an ongoing conversation. This is not healthy, nor is it helpful to our society if it continues.

We need avenues by which to communicate even more than we need highways on which to drive. Given that so many of us spend part of our days on the road, this may sound like a strange thing to say. Nevertheless, if one views communication as an essential element of how we fulfill our own fundamental need to connect with others, then it is apparent this cannot be ignored. My concern is one major reason for what I perceive to be a growing sense of dissatisfaction among people in our country and in many parts of the world is communication congestion. Communication efforts to enter into a dialog with others are backing-up. As a result, our society's level of frustration is growing. Those with whom many of us are trying to communicate, including political and corporate leaders, need to be more accessible and start doing a better job of listening.