Communication: How Important is It?

October 2nd, 2006 · 37 Comments
Discussion Topics

How does the abiltiy to communicate affect/influence/shape an individual’s future? What are the possible consequences of lacking the ability to comunciate academically? What are the benefits? What types of adult communication might require you to use formal language?

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37 responses so far ↓

1 Paola Santiago // Oct 3, 2006 at 10:20 pm

The ability to communicate helps build our future by shaping the way we learn and recieve knowledge. If we ever lack this ability we lack the ability to grow as humanbeings.
2 Milis // Oct 3, 2006 at 11:57 pm

That is deep Paola! What are some of the ways we grow as humans as a result of our ability to communicate? How do people who lack the ability to communciate because of a disability deal/grow/cope? In my opinion, resiliency plays a key role in helping those with disabilities overcome their communication issues. In essence, they must find a way to communciate in order to keep growing (as you said).
3 yuli // Oct 4, 2006 at 10:36 pm

The ability to communicate influences our beliefs. What we believe in plays a big role in our future. If someone has a disability, people are most likely not to pay attention to their thoughts so that’s why we have to build our communication skills and be open minded about what other people have to say. Just by listening, we are opening our minds to new and better ideas and belifs.
Also, as Mrs. Milis stated above, “resiliency plays a key role in helping those with disabilities overcome their communication issues.” I agree with that statement because to make yourself heard you can not give up or let anyone or anything put you down. By making yourself heard, you are standing up for what you belive in and there will be people out there that will want to make you give up.
4 Mr. Wegner // Oct 5, 2006 at 12:28 am

Excellent response Yuli. Although I haven’t mentioned this to the class as a whole, I was born with Tourette Syndrome and ADHD. It has been quite a challenge to overcome the difficulties associated with these diseases. Through careful communication and understand from my peers, as I grew up, I was better able to assimilate(look it up) with the world we live in. It is my assertion that the greatest weapon we have against ignorance is our ability to communicate by opening up the channels of understanding. What are some of your thoughts on this?
5 Sean // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:52 pm

Well, if your a good communicater it can affect your future because you can communicate to other people in many diffrent ways.It may also influence an individual because of how you act and communicate with others.
If you can not communicate you can not learn or do anything really…
Well you will be required to use formal language when you apply for a job or talk with you peers and your boss.If you talk like street talk I wouldn’t think anyone would accept you because of how you use your terms.
6 David // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:53 pm

The ability to communicate affects the future because without communication there will be no one who understands you. Lawyers have their jobs because of communication, without that, people would have less jobs. The consequences of lack of communication can affect a lot of people in the world because thats how we express ourselves, teach, learn, earn money, etc..
7 Nicholas // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:54 pm

The ability that communication has over humanity is no where from perfect. Even with the ability to communicate, humans will always be ignorant even to their own demise. They think they can do the impossible like discover eternal life. Communication shapes a person’s life so it is either great, or awful. It influences humans to either do what they want to do, or what they think they should do. Although, it depends on which type of person you talk to. You may get a positive answer if you talk to a person who has a good life, or you may get a negative answer if you talk to someone who has seen and feeled all of life’s hardships.
8 Casey Kendall // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:55 pm

The ability to communicate make’s your future. Your communication represents who you are outgoing or quiet. If you can’t communicate people won’t take you seriously, in the present or the future. The benefits of not communicating anything in life is missing out on life. There are many ways an adult will need to communicate in life. One of the ways is telling someone how you feel about them.
9 imani // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:55 pm

I think that it influences me as a young adult because
Kids are always communicating and I think if we didn’t
Communicate as much then it would change and it also shapes
The way us as individuals see certain things on the long journey thru life
Because if less people communicated and speaking in general including those with disabilities then life be way more diverse.
10 Caitlin // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:56 pm

I believe that the way every one way to communicate will shape their future because you won’t be able to get a good job. They don’t communicate that well to others.
11 kevin lopez // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:57 pm

I think that the ability to comunicat shapes the individuals future because it gives him/her a different way to look at the world
12 carlos // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:58 pm

Communication to me it’s the main source of knowledge, I’ve personally had acknowledged all that I know so far about life through communicating with others and listening to their experiences.
13 Chantel // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:58 pm

The heart of our society is communication. If one can not communicate effectively and professionally, their voice and opinions will not be heard. I have discovered that if one wants change to occur or wants to “make things happen,” they must speak up and make themselves heard. In life, a teacher is not going to ask what you think of a certain matter, a parent is not going to ask if we need anything. Furthermore, it is imperative for one to learn to not be afraid of speaking up or being wrong.
14 irvin lemus // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:59 pm

The ability to communicate helps the world. I agree with Paolas comment.
15 pedro // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:59 pm

I think communication is important because if we don’t use communication the world is mess up. People would not like each other and we would not be able to express our self.
16 Christina // Oct 5, 2006 at 5:59 pm

Communication is a very big stong word. Without communication no one will have friends or will be able to have fun and experience the good things that is going on this world today. It will shape there future because they wont be able to find what they want to do in life.
17 joseph // Oct 5, 2006 at 6:00 pm

Communication affects everbody no matter who they are. Shaping their life is communication, from presenting a project to talking on television. Through that can come depression leading to a life of sadness, or a person can more on and become more successful. For sure communication is important.
18 kevin lopez // Oct 5, 2006 at 6:01 pm

I think that the ability to communicate shapes the individuals future because it gives him/her a different way to look at the world. And it helps them to do better in life and to succeed in very ting that they try.
19 Byron // Oct 5, 2006 at 6:02 pm

I believe the way that everyone communicates is to better themselves in life.
They communicate to people that communicate to them in a different level.
20 Daniel // Oct 5, 2006 at 6:25 pm

I believe communication is necessary not only to express ourselves but to give us power through our words.
21 Monica // Oct 5, 2006 at 7:12 pm

I feel that communication is a way of life as humans. We use communcation to express our thoughts and feelings. Communication helps to shape your life because it could be that one step to being promoted , and one step from being fired. It’s affects our lives as we often don’t express ourselves as we should , often holding back infomation others need for life and success. Success is found within your voice .
22 elana // Oct 6, 2006 at 12:07 am

Communication is the one thing that everyone has in common all over the world. It shapes who you are as a person, and it can show you different prespectives. It can shape an individuals future by allowing someone to learn about the different jobs or schools out there, and listen to peoples stories on how they love what they do or hate it.
23 Paola Santiago // Oct 6, 2006 at 12:22 am

To respond to Ms. Milis’ post: No one lacks the ability to communicate, diability or no. Take my sister as an example. She is not able to speak, see, or talk but that does not stop her from laughing to tell me she’s happy or crying to tell me she’s angry with me for stepping on her foot. I had to learn to identify her different emotions as her way of communicating with me. Growing in that way has helped me get to know my sister better.
24 Napat // Oct 6, 2006 at 12:52 am

The ability to communicate is the important thing that we all need to have. By using a communication, we are able to exchange ideas and provide information to the others. Without communication, we wouldn’t understand each other and no cooperation among people or the community will not go smoothly. The benefits that we will get are gaining knowledge to live our life successful. We are growing and become more mature so the time we talk with an elder or the important people, we must use the proper language in appropriate time
25 Jonathan F // Oct 6, 2006 at 10:39 am

Without communication we wouldn’t be civilized. It would also lower our chances of survival. It would be a case of every man for himself. We need communication to express our feelings as well as our needs. Communication also makes our life better through music, art, and theater.
26 Christina V. // Oct 7, 2006 at 11:12 pm

Wow, everyone has such great and deep responses.

I truly believe in the saying that “everything happens for a reason.” Nothing can actually “happen” unless you do something. Furthermore, you can’t make something happen without the use of communication between yourself or others. There are some people out there who like to be secluded and want to avoid any form of communication with others. Those kinds of people are unable to learn from other people’s experiences, to have other people help/ guide them, or to influence them to succeed. What I’m trying to say is that, communication is the starter point of life. From our very first steps to our very first words, communication is what led us to where/ who we are today.

From going to school, we’ve learned how to communicate in various ways such as speaking, drawing, writing, etc. When you are going through an interview to get a new job, your body language, as well as your tone of voice, will tell the person who is interviewing you a lot about yourself.
27 Timothy Holland // Oct 8, 2006 at 6:01 am

Communication is essential to human beings as a source of suffering.
What are humans without suffering? Nothing. Suffering is what leads a humans through life. Humans strive to pass this wall or barrier called Suffering. We look as high as we can and can’t find the top of it. So we build a ladder called Knowledge to find away pass this wall of Suffering. We build the ladder higher and higher and yet many of us just can’t grasp the concept that suffering goes on forever. Those word of knowledges that accept suffering is eternal is called “Wisdom” .
What comes from the suffering of not knowing what is after death? Religion. What comes from the suffering of thirteen British colonies? United States.

“Life is suffering.” – Buddha
28 steven m // Oct 9, 2006 at 6:53 pm

communication is important because it is needed throught life. if you could not communicate you would alwasy be in conflict with every one else. people would get into fights over nothing and the world would be in cayous. it is in myopion that if we could not communicate in any way shape or from we would not be able to egzest, e would be nothing. just blobes of fleash standing there all alone.
29 Luke Salzarulo // Oct 11, 2006 at 5:36 pm

Communication is one of the major keys to success in life. Communication is the process of transferring thought through various channels to be shared with others. Your mind is capable of producing endless creative thought…how do you even begin to release what is locked inside your imagination? Expression. Your ability to communicate defines the accuracy of your messages, whether writing songs, painting pictures…Rich language is necessary to have deepened intelligence. Let’s say you have a bank lock box packed full of diamonds, but you do not have the key! That is how a lack of good communicating skills can “handicap” people. One practical way to begin working on your communication is to keep a journal. Journaling can allow thought to move to deductions, and let a person practice expressing thought. As we are using this Blog we are practicing this same idea- allowing thought to move into typed messages using the internet as a channel. Pretty cool huh?
30 Erika Garcia // Oct 13, 2006 at 2:23 pm

Communication is an important factor in life. Being able to communicate in this world means success in the future. The way you communicate with others affects others, especially little children that look up to you. That is why communication is very important.
31 krystall // Oct 13, 2006 at 2:36 pm

The communication in our lives effects our future when we go to apply for a job and stuff we need our very good communication skills so when we have to talk it benefits us in some ways and in others it kind of ruins us because the things we do so communication is a good thing and a bad thing..=)
32 Julio A. // Oct 13, 2006 at 2:41 pm

The ability to communicate is so powerful that no one will be able to take it away, but i mean they will never take it away. Communication is what the world need. We just have to able to relate to the person. When we do that is communication. I really think that communicate is on thing we need to improve not just myself but others all over the world.
33 Daryll Capistrano // Oct 13, 2006 at 2:50 pm

Without communication we wouldn’t be who we are even today. Being able to communicate inables us to grow into this great society of ours.
34 Jacquelynn Mondragon // Oct 25, 2006 at 8:58 pm

The ability to communicate is being educated, whether it’s self-taught (by learning on their own) or getting educated in the school. Without words, sign language or other means of communicating how is society suppose to interact? It is very important for one to shape their vocabulary and be eloquent at all times. No matter how much we try to teach others not to judge, many can’t help but judge. If your speech is poor consequently you may be over looked in a promotion, scholarship, a new job, misinterpretation with contracts, there’s all sort of issues that will be affected by ones lack of knowledge. If your goal in life is to own your own business you have to know how to communicate. You have to be able to use the right words to persuade others to join in on your business. If you’re trying to get sponsors, loans and clients and start speaking in Ebonics chances are you’re business won’t get very far. Being ungrammatical can affect your success in life. No self-respected company is going to hire someone who doesn’t know how to speak in present tense, or use verbs when there needed. There is a time and place to be nonchalant with words when you’re among friends. However eloquence will never be over looked in the classroom or in the work field.
35 Tabitha Espinoza // Oct 25, 2006 at 10:41 pm

Just recently, in one of my classes at CSUN, we were talking about communicating (specifically through our writing). We were focusing on specific people. Think of any speech, lecture, preaching…etc. that you may have heard, that pops into your mind right now. Was it the speech that you specifically remember, or was it the speaker? What we determined is that the SPEAKER is what really made that portion of communicating effective. He/she has the power, through communication, to really touch people and sometimes change the way we might think. Take Martin Luther King for example. What made him stand out? Not only did he have a dream, but he was able to effectively communicate that dream in a way that everybody could was able to relate.
If I, or anybody, want to make a difference in our families, schools, communities…etc., then we must strive to communicate in a way that people remember US as well as our words. I am studying to be a teacher, and I have been studying for 3 years now. How ridiculous would it be to want to teach as badly as I do, but not be able, or not want to communicate with my students? In order to carry out the job that I feel I am called to do (teach), then I must strive to be an amazing communicator. The ways in which I might develop my commucation vary, but I have found that placing myself in situations that I might normally shy away from–public speaking, group work–has allowed me to develop the ways and strategies that I personally use to communicate with others.
36 paola // Oct 30, 2006 at 6:48 pm

Communication is the number one tool that you would need in life to succede…the reason why i think this is because you need to speak up for yourself so you can laern how to defend your own rights.Many people in this world are afraid to say something back and im glad im not like that because sooner or later your going to have to learn that you cant led yourself be pushed around otherwise your going to be pushed around….I don’t belive that it is right for people to stay with what they feel inside and keep it to themselfs its always better to be open and have your thoughts been said out loud…:-)!!!!!!!!!!!!
37 Erin Lanagan // Nov 28, 2006 at 11:33 pm

There are so many ways in which communication brings the world into our understanding, and then allows us to respond and to share our thoughts and feelings with others. And there are so many levels of that connection we can make: telling a friend how we feel (and then listening to what they think and feel); expressing our joy, or frustration, or curiosity about what’s going on in the world, even getting angry at a situation and trying to make it better. Humans are programmed to need one another, and communication can be the link to all of the things we most want in life. I feel it is really important to learn to communicate as fully as possible, because that’s how people will know us and how we figure out who we are. Absolutely every person has so much to express..even if you don’t think you do! Reading, and even just listening, helps expand our ability to learn to communicate with others and thus make a difference in the world. This blog is a great way to toss our hat in the ring, and it’s very cool to hear so many different voices!