Steve Rose: Watch Your Words in this Wacky World of Technology

How many times have you heard this? "We live in an age of communication."

Yes we do.

We have so many ways to communicate that we forget some of the basic ones that in my opinion, still work. Take phones for instance. Phones work but if you're under the age of 30, phones are a secondary device to be used only when your thumbs give out after texting your twenty-millionth text about nothing particularly important. 

I can reach my kids by phone, well most of them. I have one who refuses to acknowledge it. She claims it's bad reception where she lives in the Carolinas so if you wish to communicate, you have to do it on Facebook.

That just seems a bit impersonal when you're the father. You should have easy access to your children in order to make them angry. On Facebook, I have to take a photo of myself with my angry face and send it with the comment "Steve has changed his profile to pissed off at his kid." 

The fact is though that with all these new avenues of communication, we sometimes overlook an important fact about all communicating which should be the first rule: Make sure the information is accurate. We tend to let this slide, especially when we're warning others about something troubling or significant that others need to know like who is doing what or who is doing who.

One of the great strengths we have in our neighborhoods and Neighborhood Watch Programs is our ability to get information out there fast via our e-mail networks. 

In the distant past, we had "phone trees" to warn each other about criminal activity. Unfortunately information tended to be slow becuase the parties got distracted catching up on old news.

"Hi Bob, how's the family? Good. We're fine, Johnny is starting his freshman year at school and Betty's mom is in town for a visit and oh yeah, there's a muderer loose on your street."

Now we can tap it down and within a minute or two, hundreds, even thousands of people have it on their phones, iPads, laptops, and even obsolete devices like desktop computers.

As an e-mail passes along from one to another, the information can simply be pasted from the original. Sometimes however, the author simply rewrites it and sends it along with slight modifications like leaving out whole paragraphs or key words like "kill" or "blow up." Although disturbing, these are words that I want to know if it potentially affects me.

So, as we obtain and then forward information around the neighborhood or globe, remember that it takes only a slight deviation from the original message to give it a whole new meaning. Here's a good example:

When my older kids were young, I coached their softball team. The kids were about 10-years-old. We were not blessed with much talent and as the softball season went on, we continued to be winless, which bothered me but apparently not the kids. Had we not offered snacks at the end of the game, they would have collectively entered therapy but as far as winning any of the games, they were not too upset. Still, we practiced and practiced. 

One evening, when the planets aligned and the moon was in klutz, we managed a win. I was beside myself. I felt compelled to say something inspirational to the girls so I went into that old book of inspirational coach's comments and told them that if you work hard enough and practice what we teach you, sooner of later it will pay off.

"Sometime even the blind squirrel finds the nut." I said.

The kids collectively looked at me like I had three heads and then asked, "Can we have our snacks now?" 

Off they went, not a care in the world. I figured it was in one ear and out the other.

About a month later, my daughter's class invited the parents in to listen to stories that the students had written. As the proud parents all stood along the edge of the classroom, video cameras, you know, the really big ones you had to shoulder, in hand, one by one, each student walked to the front of the class and read a short story. At the end, we all clapped, they smiled, parents beamed, and we went on to the next story.

Finally my daughter walked to the class and she began to tell the story of her softball team and how much fun it was and how many new friends she made. I was very proud and happy because despite wins and losses, they all had fun.

As she concluded, I was looking around the room, smiling and beaming with joy. Then it happened. She in fact had recalled what I had said that night and so she folded her paper and looked around the room at the parents all lined along the wall and she said:

"It's like my daddy says, sometimes even a blind squirrel can find his nuts!" 

The moral of the story is this: Good information can get lost in translation. Keep it accurate. Remember that we will be happy to confirm what you hear, especially lookouts on cars and / or suspicious people. That's what I'm here for.

E-mail me anytime and remember: Never ever use the squirrel story to make a point!