Lots of noise – little context

What does this have to do with communication? – Well, when I heard the word "blower," other meanings immediately came to mind. There's the blower in a marching band, the blower that dries paint, etc. I'm sure you can think of other serious examples.

You can see it in this word: communication only makes sense when the context is taken into account. We live in a time when everything is said—but often out of context. A sentence, a screenshot, half a thought are enough to reliably generate outrage. Context? Now considered a superfluous luxury. Context is what gives information meaning in the first place. Without it, communication remains acoustic dust. Irony without intonation becomes an insult, criticism without context becomes an offense, a number without classification becomes a headline. We scroll, judge, share—preferably in the heat of the moment. The main thing is that it's loud enough to justify our own attention.

In digital spaces, context is often undesirable. Character limits, algorithms, and the attention economy reward omission, not explanation. Differentiation costs reach, exaggeration brings clicks. Discourse is thus increasingly resembling a poorly maintained green space: lots of blowing, little order, and in the end, the leaves are still everywhere. This is how world politics in particular is communicated.

Those who refuse to provide context are not communicating clearly, but conveniently. Perhaps we should ask ourselves more often before we speak or share: Am I explaining something, or am I just making noise?