The other day, I heard a statistic that, in the course of the average lifetime, a person will speak 370,110,001.3 words.
That’s a lot of words… and as a professional writer, I see every day the power those words can carry.
But do spoken words carry more power than written words?
What form of personal interaction – face-to-face communication or the written word – has a greater affect on influencing behavior?
We all agree that words matter… and it may surprise you that written words hold more power in affecting our thoughts and actions.
Anthropologists tell us that, at the same time we developed language, we developed the skill of complex reasoning. It seems language gives us a “source code” for advanced thinking.
Before we had that code, we lacked the ability to THINK the way we do now. (You likely witness this event yourself if you have – or had – small children in your life. You saw their ability to think abstract thoughts increase parallel to their understanding of words.)
So our developing complex thought ability helped us avoid the perils of activities outside the cave, but it still took another 50 millennia before language skills – and the human species – really blossomed. It took until we developed the written word before we created organizations that functioned at a high level.
It was not until around 3,000 BCE, historians agree, before the Sumerians (based in modern-day Iraq) created the first written form of language.
The systems of laws and justice, commerce and trade, education and government could only truly evolve on the wings of the written word. As literacy became more common, and as laws, procedures, regulations and thoughts landed on pieces of paper and circulated in the mid-12th century, the collection of raw data developed. That process of creating, collecting and distributing data – words, numbers and ideas – were the baby steps of today’s modern civilization.
So, why is writing so powerful?
As one scholar puts it, “writing codifies speaking, thus turning words into objects of conscious reflection.”
So writing ideas down make them concrete. And as we think about written words, as we concentrate and codify their meanings, we understand them better and they increasingly affect our behavior.
The written word powered every one of our major accomplishments. We use our brains to unify different thoughts and ideas and align data into acceptable, manageable and usable systems.
But, it is more than a simple biological function.
Writing drives our behavior in part because we attach great significance to writing. Writing legitimized and validated our ideas and actions. Early on, on the priests and translators read, or write. Many people thought the ability to write was either magic or a blessed gift from above.
Both the ability to write and writing materials themselves were precious and rare for centuries. Today, in many circles, the title “author” still carries gravitas.
Written words make us think. They make us change our behavior. They mean more to us because we take them seriously.
Face-to-face interaction is good for communication. But if you want to really use positive feedback to encourage reflection and drive meaningful behavior, consider writing that feedback down in words. It will make them matter all that much more.
Peter T. Britton
Idea Generator. Wordsmith. Resultant.
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