Dylan B. Dryer explores an intriguing thought in his article “Writing is Not Natural.” He begins by acknowledging that the act of speaking to one another to convey our inward thoughts is a practice that has been upheld since the very beginning. Dryer observes that children, while they are still quite young, attach the sounds they hear others say to meaning, which they learn to use to communicate with as well. In this way, speech is considered to be a natural occurrence. On the contrary, Dryer goes on to say that the act of writing is unnatural. The idea is to capture the sound that is linked to a specific meaning and then transfer that into letters and words. He describes this shift in communication as a translation from speech to words. When writing, one must call upon a word that encapsulates the precise meaning of a specific sound.
Dryer continues by expressing how items that we now view as mundane such as coats, hammers, and cooking pots are, in fact, pieces of technology. He also describes writing as a technology. However, like most things, writing has its flaws. While the written word is priceless, it lacks things like facial expressions, gestures, and body language that occur naturally with face-to-face interaction. Because of these barriers, writers must be cautious when choosing how they choose to express their thoughts.
Dylan B. Dryer does a superb job at explaining the unique relationship between speech and the written word. Every writer relishes the opportunity to have their words impact the lives of their readers. This article was impressionable but the biggest thing that I took away from it was that face-to-face interaction is hard to beat. Dryer was clear in stating that writing is a gift, but he also describes it as a technology yet to be perfected.
Writing is a skill that takes time to develop but the knowledge of how to speak to someone is something that humans are naturally born to do. When talking about the differences between writing and speech, Dryer observes, “Speech, however, employs an extensive array of modalities unavailable to writing: gesture, expression, pacing, register, silences, and clarifications- all of which are instantaneously responsive to listeners’ verbal and nonverbal feedback.” Humans rely greatly on nonverbal communication to not only to better understand the words being said, but the meaning behind them. A single word can contain one hundred different meanings so it can become easy to misunderstand something that is said through the written word. Because of technology, people have instant access to the people they want to talk to. While this is by no means a bad thing, it can also lead to laziness if left unchecked. When people are so easy to get to, the simple things like taking a friend out for coffee or going for a walk in the park can be seen as more of a chore. So while writing is an amazing technology that allows writers to reach people they have never met before, it is of equal importance to not lose the skill of developing a genuine human connection that can last a lifetime.
https://www.verywellmind.com/types-of-nonverbal-communication-2795397
