Another of my infamous 'aha' moments...
I just realized that the reason people tend to misunderstand and misconstrue so much via text is that everyone reads text with their own inner voice.
If I tell you something in person, you can see my facial expression, hear my inflections, and all those other non-verbal communication cues that according to some 'experts' constitute up to 90% of 'communication. However, in text, the we thing you have to go on is purely our words themsleves (well, maybe the implications of emoticons, layout, etc. but I digress). What this creates is a void. When something is missing that needs to exist, the mind fills in the blanks - this is one of the predictive functions of 'Intuition'. When we are reading text, we fill in the blanks of body language, tone of voice, inflection, etc... all the non-verbal communication cues.
However, we do this with our own inner voice!
This is where the cognitive functions really show themselves. People of the same MBTI type often 'get where they are coming from' while other types tend to misinterpret them in proportion to the degree of difference in functions. A classic example of this is INFJs and ENTPs. In person, I can follow them very well and generally find them amusing, funny, and charming even when we're debating. However, online, the things they write can seem terribly inflammatory - even if the exact same words are used! Why? Because in person, I'm seeing their playful grins, enthusiasm, and laughter. Online, I'm reading their text with my own inner voice and applying the body language, tone of voice, etc. that I would have to have in order to be using those words - and this changes the inflection (and therefore meaning) drastically.
I just realized that the reason people tend to misunderstand and misconstrue so much via text is that everyone reads text with their own inner voice.
If I tell you something in person, you can see my facial expression, hear my inflections, and all those other non-verbal communication cues that according to some 'experts' constitute up to 90% of 'communication. However, in text, the we thing you have to go on is purely our words themsleves (well, maybe the implications of emoticons, layout, etc. but I digress). What this creates is a void. When something is missing that needs to exist, the mind fills in the blanks - this is one of the predictive functions of 'Intuition'. When we are reading text, we fill in the blanks of body language, tone of voice, inflection, etc... all the non-verbal communication cues.
However, we do this with our own inner voice!
This is where the cognitive functions really show themselves. People of the same MBTI type often 'get where they are coming from' while other types tend to misinterpret them in proportion to the degree of difference in functions. A classic example of this is INFJs and ENTPs. In person, I can follow them very well and generally find them amusing, funny, and charming even when we're debating. However, online, the things they write can seem terribly inflammatory - even if the exact same words are used! Why? Because in person, I'm seeing their playful grins, enthusiasm, and laughter. Online, I'm reading their text with my own inner voice and applying the body language, tone of voice, etc. that I would have to have in order to be using those words - and this changes the inflection (and therefore meaning) drastically.
