Has our communicating gotten dumber? Or smarter?

The limited format for things like texting, Facebook, and Twitter has required us all to say what we need to say in a much shorter space. Critics say this has resulted in a “dumbed-down” form of communication.

It’s easy to understand their sentiment when we see how many dumb things are said through these media. However, in another sense, the critics have it backward.

Though much of our communication has gotten shorter, and certainly less formal, it’s actually gotten smarter in a lot of ways. After all, you have to be smarter  (not dumber) to communicate more in a shorter space.

Just look at text messaging. Teens have developed an entirely new language in order to communicate full sentences in just a few letters. That’s smart.

But smart communication is also much more than just crazy acronyms. It’s about being concise. It’s clarity of thought. It’s intentional. Every word is thoughtful and carefully used for maximum effect.

We are all bombarded with (and consumed by) more information daily than ever before. If anything makes it through the noise, it has to be smart and to the point. That means it’s usually short.

Think about the most effective communicators you’ve ever heard. Something they all had in common was that they could communicate deep, complex, expansive ideas with very few words. They made it simple. They were smart.

We have to do the same thing. Whether it’s our bulletins, websites, emails, tweets or text messages, we need to shorten the length. That doesn’t mean dumbing them down. That means smartening them up!

That’s why Flocknote’s interface is made for short, simple, to-the-point emails and text messages. It’s simple, so you can be smarter.