It has not been a long time since the last time these words in our title were used, but the fact that it has been erased from our language of communication for a while is great.
According to the dictionary, in terms of communication, the word “parasite” seems to describe an unpleasant, morbid situation: “Extraneous or crackling noise interfering with the broadcast of radio, television, walkie-talkie or similar devices.”
Again, in the communication model developed with a highly technical perspective by two mathematicians Shannon and Weaver in the middle of the last century, “parasite” referred to as “noise” is a negative but critical element. Originating from an information source and encrypted as transferable data, the message is transmitted over a channel open to interference, reaches the receiver to be deciphered, and is translated into its target language. The sole purpose of this linear and one-way model is to minimize the interference causing data loss. That is, if the interference is eliminated, communication will reach absolute fluidity. ☯︎
It looks like technology has reached the point that Shannon and Weaver longed for: The television broadcasts are free of interference, the radio does not crackle, and almost all of our phone calls are crisp and clear. Telecommunications companies make commitments to “uninterrupted communication” to millions of people. In fact, when a new call comes in while another call is in progress, the answering machine can be activated, we can send and receive messages during the call, we can check Twitter, Instagram while we pretend to listen to someone for instance. 😏
And we can do all of these without any interference. While we are writing an e-mail, we can receive new messages and we can start writing another one by leaving the other halfway through. Our draft section is designed to make this possible by saving it automatically.
But is it possible for us to listen effectively and deeply to the other person, while trying to manage all these layers of communication each of which has been cleared and free from interference, while trying to write a message within the message, running from one phone call to another, while being exposed to such external stimulus ❓
Under these circumstances, can communication reach the absolute fluidity ❓
If this so-called “multitasking” is not the new parasite at the core of our multidimensional communication, what is it then ❓
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