Challenges in Virtual Communication

by Bill Cottringer

“Texting is a brilliant way to miscommunicate how you feel and misinterpret what other people mean.”  ~Anonymous.

    Face to face (f2f) communication itself has many challenges but communicating in the new virtual world surrounding us has just worsened these communication challenges. Below are the ten biggest challenges to work on overcoming.

1.   Words.

We originally invented words to represent objects we could no longer carry around to show firsthand. The we came up with common word denotative definitions to avoid any confusion or misinterpretation of what we meant. Then all the trouble started when we began imaging our own meanings of word connotations. At this point, there is a whole lot of empty abstract space between our words and the things they are supposed to represent and so bridging this gap is a huge challenge even with f2f communication and much more so with virtual communication.

2.   Technology.

The internet connections can be very disruptive to time sensitive virtual communication. Furthermore, popular social media accounts used in virtual communication are easily hackable. User costs are becoming more the norm which may reduce access and the shorter allowance for maximum characters, such as Twitter accounts, really don’t do much for improving the quality of virtual communication.

3.   Style.

There are many individual differences involved in the way people choose to communicate, which add to the confusion in any type of communication. Just a few of these which make virtual communication even more difficult include the opposing styles of positive vs. negative, self-centered vs. selfless, over-certainty vs. tentativeness, accepting vs. rejecting, optimistic vs. pessimistic, over-detailed vs. superficial, etc.

4.   Motivations.

     A person’s motivations behind what they are saying, when understood, can better explain what is really meant in ambiguous communication that can easily be misinterpreted. Virtual communication doesn’t usually provide the time necessary to get to know the person’s motivations well enough to avoid having to guess. When motivations are not clear, then we are left to our imaginations, which can often be over-active.

5.   Culture.

With virtual communication becoming so global, cultural and language differences can easily impede good communication. Just a few of the cultural differences that impact the quality of communication include ambiguity tolerance, approach to conflict, ideal vs. group focus, power references, values, beliefs, norms, uncertainty avoidance, indulgence vs. restraint, and hot button word connotations.

6.   Time.

It is rather odd that time is one of the most important resources we have, which is equally distributed but rarely used equally.  One thing that does seem to be an equal concern is not having enough time to do everything that needs to be done. With people’s attention span dwindling and immediacy needs increasing, short communication is the norm, which obviously sacrifices too many important details in virtual communication. And needless to say, time zone differences can be disruptive with either f2f or virtual communication.

7.   Distractions.

Another time issue involved with most virtual communication is that we can easily get caught up in multi-tasking to get everything done on time. However, one bad side effect of muti-tasking is the loss of quality and the resulting mediocrity of all the things we are trying to do at the same time. Obviosity there are distractions in f2f communication, but they are much more prevalent in virtual communication.  Finally, mindfulness, or being focused on the present, which is so important in being successful in anything, is severely challenged in non-physical virtual communication.     

8.   Channels.

The list of virtual communication channels keeps expanding and currently includes e-mail, instant messaging, multiple social media platforms, several different video conferencing options, live chat, chatbots, web calling, intranet connections, audio notes, SMS texting and video chats. The problems are that competencies in these various channels are not equal, access is not a given, and sometimes the software involves a steep learning curve.

9.      Body language.

The body language clues from f2f communication, such as eye contact, face and hand gestures, posture, stance, accompanying emotions, and voice tone, are all absent in virtual communication. These lost clues can take away valuable meaning or add extra misunderstood meaning to what is being said. This where a hybrid f2f-virtual format with video conferencing can be a partial solution.

10. Priorities.

       All these other virtual communication challenges work together to undermine priorities and goals of the communication process. And again, there are always time contains in virtual communication that prevent clarifications of what priorities are mutual for the communication sender and receiver. Wrong assumptions about what is most important to another person in virtual communication can guarantee miscommunication.

     The good news here, is that these challenges face us all and pooling our solutions with the increased opportunities presented with virtual communication, can lead to better communication.

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” ~Peter F. Drucker.