201. Writing Is Not Enough

We live in a world of endless writing. We write to each other constantly, texting, messaging, commenting, posting our opinions, our experiences, our ideas and dreams.

We trust that our written language is doing what we want, that it’s expressing the core of our thoughts and feelings, and that others will know and understand these things. We expect others to grasp our meanings, to comprehend our intentions, and to read our words in good faith.

Most of the time, something like this actually happens. Most of the time, the written word does its job admirably. But most of the time is not always. Sometimes our idea does not get across and is instead replaced in the mind of the reader by a different idea that was never intended. We are then forced to double back, to try to say what we’ve already said in a new way and hopefully with greater clarity.

Having to do this is naturally frustrating. It’s frustrating any time we are misunderstood by others. When we speak to each other in person, there is significantly less risk of this happening. For then there is also a metatext that accompanies our words: the intonation of the voice, the expressions of the face, the pace of speech, and so on.

All of this metatext is necessarily lost when we write. An experienced writer can control the rhythm, vocabulary, structure, and even the subtext of their sentences, and alter these variables to increase the accuracy of communication. But none of this is easy. It requires not only extensive practice, but also a willingness to continuously imagine the experience of a reader working through the text.

This degree of care and consideration is entirely unlike how we use the written word in our day-to-day lives. Here, we hardly even have time to read our own text before it’s sent off into the world. Is it really so surprising then that we might decide writing is not enough and it’s better to have a chat over a cup of tea?