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What Signals Engineering Taught Me About Empathy
Adjusting your communication to suit your audience
We send each other signals all the time. Our speech, writing, and body language are pieces of data that originate from inside of us, travel through space and time, and get interpreted by other people.
It is tempting to think that as long as we present our thoughts accurately, the person we are communicating with should have no problem understanding us. “I said exactly what I meant, so if they misinterpreted me, that’s their fault!”
Indeed, when we’re talking to close friends with similar backgrounds and worldviews, it’s easier to communicate successfully. We can speak our minds without thinking about it too much and our peers will usually understand what we mean.
On the other hand, sometimes we communicate with people who have a vastly different understanding of the world. They have different histories, philosophies, and expectations about reality. Maybe there are differences in religion, nationality, gender, sexuality, age, class, native language, or personality. Maybe their perceptions have been altered by abuse or mental illness.
Even though we’re saying exactly what we mean, the way someone hears us can be totally different than what we intended. Our data passes through so…
