Why is effective communication is important to me?

What is effective commnuication? To me, an effective communication will mean that both the speaker and the receiver can be able to pass all information to each other without any misunderstanding so that both parties will be able to fully comprehend each other's points. In an effective communication, the communicating parties will not just be passing information with each other through words, other factors such as body language, facial expression and speech mannerism are also accurately passed to each other. Both sides will be communicating with each other real time, not strictly with just one speaker and just one receiver. In the end, both communicating parties must be able to receive the correct information from each other without misintepretation.

Back to the main topic; the main reason why effective communication is important to me is because having effective communication skills is essential in this modern day society. The world is becoming into a global village, where travelling and communicating from one country to another can be performed in less than a day regardless of the distance apart. Thanks to the advances in infocomm technology, one can easily communicate with another through platforms such as internet chat rooms or social networking sites, allowing the communicating parties to exchange informations with each other real time without any delay. However, even though the world is becoming into a global village, there are still some barriers that prevent one to accurately pass the correct information to the receiver. Barriers such as cultural difference, language issues and generation gaps can still cause misintepretation of information between two communicating parties even in today.

One good example of the importance of effective communication can be seen in the Battle of Singapore during World War 2. The British general, Arthur A. E. Percival, ordered his troops to only retreat to town centre if necessary when the Japanese invaded. Unfortunately, Percival's officers misintepreted Percival's orders as immediate retreat. As a result, the defending British forces retreated without a fight, allowing the Japanese forces to advance deep into Singapore, causing the eventual defeat of the British troops. From this example, it can be shown the importance of effective communication. If the Percival's officers could interpret Percival's orders correctly and commanded their troops to stand their grounds instead of immediate retreat, the outcome of the battle might be very different and history might have changed.

We, as Homo sapiens sapiens, are social beings. As social beings, the ability to communicate with others correctly is highly important for us. Misunderstandings of information during communication can sometimes lead to disastrous results, such as broken relationships. When I mean broken relationships, I can refer to any kind of relationships, such as business, family, friends, romance, colleague, etc. The inability of effective communication would lead to one being left alone in the society, and as social beings, one would find it hard to survive on their own.

Hence, I believe that effective communication is not just important to me alone, but also important to everyone. We are living in the information age, and the ability to make effective communication is a key to allow us to interact with others. With effective communication, we can understand with one another without creating unnecessary conflicts.