Soft skills allow us to navigate effectively in our environments, to work well with others, perform well, and achieve goals. Then, to be able to develop digital communication we also need to work on its soft skill aspect and ask ourselves: How do we relate to digital tools? Are we communicating efficiently?
In these times, we must incorporate digital communication as part of the overall communication concept. Understanding that technology is part of our lives and is one more way of relating to others, either on a personal or professional level.
Why is this aspect important? We have the feeling that virtual communication is more impersonal, that is not the same as being there in person. And that's true, it's not the same. But nowadays we have tools to work on that and find ways to communicate in a more "human" way with technology.
Until we are more used to digital media, we should pay attention to how effectively we communicate. Perhaps the greatest challenge in any communication is whether we are delivering the message we want, whether our receiver understands what we are trying to communicate. Digital communication offers many tools to achieve this, we just have to be patient to incorporate them little by little.
Besides, digital communication plays an important role when it comes to communicating over long distances. For example, to communicate before a volunteer arrives, to keep in touch once they leave or even so that volunteers can communicate with their family and friends when they are in another country.
In the current context, with COVID-19, digital communication also takes a leading role. This has proved to be a challenge in many areas and has highlighted the technological gap. But it has also made visible new opportunities and ways of communicating. For example, within our field, virtual volunteering appears as a new possibility.
So it's not about changing face to face communication with digital tools and turn everything into a virtual world. It's about using it as another way of communication and find new ways of being.
