The ability to communicate is one of the most important and powerful abilities we possess. We need to use communication tools wisely, especially modern media and the Internet.

All technological communication methods remove some aspect of face–to–face communication. Reading this magazine for example, you can't see my facial expressions, my body language or hear the tone of my voice, and I can't tell whether my message is actually getting across and having any impact on you. Even talking face'to'face, people often misunderstand each other whether from having fundamentally different worldviews or defining a word slightly differently. In the Bible James writes some sharp things about the tongue:

James 3:4-6
"Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! "

At the time James was writing, the spoken word had a far smaller audience. Now with modern media, from the printing press to the Internet, the power of our tongues is amplified enormously. Tongues are indeed dangerous things, but just as ships aren't much good without rudders, we aren't much good without means of communication.

I will look primarily at the Internet, but much of what I have to say also applies to other media, such as television, radio, texting or the printed word. The Internet forms a particularly interesting group of media, allowing groups of people, no matter how small or spread across the globe to get together based on common interests.That interest might be science and Christianity, extreme ironing or something illegal! It is easier to talk to such groups of likeminded people; jargon doesn't need to be explained, they agree on more, and they want to talk about the same things.

Some notable, huge websites, like MySpace and Facebook, split up their members into friendship groups. But these websites have formed around the idea of sharing things with your friendship groups, rather than common interests such as particular sports, gadgets, or political interests. On the other hand websites such as YouTube and Flickr formed around the idea of sharing video and photos respectively. Here ideas are shared with millions of people, and sometimes they become so popular that they can take on a life of their own.

Often groups on the Internet can be of such large size that the members think the groups are synonymous with the world, or at least, all that is relevant to the common interest that the website was formed about. Yet they have almost no diversity, and because they all agree they cease all self–critique and stagnate, or even get more and more extreme ideas.

On the Internet we can reply instantaneously, to an e –mail, someone's post on a forum or an instant message. There is nobody to stop us half way through a reply, and point out that you've misunderstood, and disagreements can escalate rapidly. Arguments called 'flame wars' frequently erupt over the Internet, often starting from simple misunderstandings. However flame wars aren't the only misunderstandings on the Internet.

Indeed, misunderstandings happen very easily, especially where there is diversity, though even the most similar of people can end up in full–blown arguments. Studies have shown that recipients have, on average, no better than a 50–50 chance of guessing the tone in e-mails correctly, despite the sender thinking they would have a 90% chance of interpreting correctly. (For an in depth newspaper article about this study, please see the second article under 'related articles' at the end of this article).

Another problem is that fiction and fact are not labeled. In contrast, if you go into your local library you'd expect to find fiction under the fiction section and non–fiction under the non-fiction sections, but on the net, very little is labeled, and when it is labeled there is no guarantee the labeling is accurate. Sarcasm is a common example of something often mislabeled, sometimes dangerously.

Language, culture and worldview differences are also clearly a barrier to communication as are different forms of disabilities, like dyslexia, which is estimated to effect as many as one in ten people (including myself) and dyslexia isn't the only disability of its kind, merely the most common.

These misunderstandings can lead to splits between close friends, new friendships, divorces and marriages with alarming frequency. Relationships formed over the Internet are often, though not always, instable, yet Internet dating sites are hugely popular.

It is important for us both as individuals and as a culture not to misunderstand other people or other cultures. An example of this happening on the cultural scale is often found in Islamic states where they expect other countries to have similar 'state' religions. With all the things they are told about what Westerners get up to via the Internet and other worldwide mediums, like TV, that are dominated by western culture whether it's from soaps, films or some of the more disgusting things available to them, they can often end up thinking "The west is Christian, therefore everyone I'm seeing do these things in the west are also Christian, therefore all Christians are like this".

But on the other hand, thanks to websites and free software that provide scores of different translations, and are rapidly searchable, the Bible has never been more easily accessible than it is now. It's on the net in a plethora of languages and with diverse resources like Strong's numbers, lexicons, concordances and devotionals. There are also some extremely powerful, new resources available to us on the Internet.

Desperate prayer needs can travel around the world in mere minutes, reaching more groups of Christians than ever before. People searching for answers to their questions can search the web and, God willing, find truth there. And with modern communication comes better education and so more people can read the Bible for themselves. Perhaps even more excitingly, as the Internet spreads across borders, the Bible comes with it, transcending borders that would otherwise be closed to the Bible.

So, as with most things, both good and bad can come of them. As James said, we need to be careful of what we say, especially while using modern media. A good example of a simple aid in making sure that we are getting our messages across is to get a friend to read the text before we send it, or failing that, to read it out loud in a tone we did not intend it to be read in, for example, formally or sarcastically. It's good to get into a habit of sending an email later – write them today, read them tomorrow morning, then send them. Also, remember to be cautious when reading other people¹s replies: there is as little as 50% chance that our impression of the tone in which it was written is correct.

Isaac Thimbleby, Maths Student, Newcastle University