Perceptions

In “That’s not what I meant” from Seth Godin's Blog,  Seth Godin states, 

"Disagreements among people who mean well usually begin with that emotion. Students can be very sensitive to words. Someone may say something that is totally innocent, but it can be taken the wrong way."

During this time of wearing masks, reading facial expressions and hearing tone of voice is especially hard.

Most people use these visual cues to go along with the words in order to understand the intent of the words. This is how we can tell if the speaker is angry, sarcastic serious, or making a joke.

By knowing the intent, we know how to respond.

I am suggesting to many people that are wearing masks that they need to add the intent at the end of what they say so that it can be taken in the right way. Don’t assume that the person you are speaking to can tell what you mean.

If I am going to say something funny, I will ask “Don’t you think that is funny?” or something to indicate that what I said should be taken lightly.

Maybe I will say that I’m going to be sarcastic and then say what I want to say.

If I’m angry, then I need to let the person know that I’m angry before I speak.

I think sometimes if we think of our intent before we speak, we might decide that it would be better not to say anything after all.

During these stressful times, more people can’t seem to help themselves by being more sensitive than normal. When times weren’t so stressful, words and statements didn’t bother them as much as it does now. We need to take in account that people may be more sensitive than we are used to and adjust our habits and ways of communicating.

Has this happened to you? Please share.

Photo by Pavel Anoshin on Unsplash