![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/xrayman/23ywyvYTZ4iFMKr3FBBvHNhukmrjHFfVoMdpwNwz2Zto7r8MfrBYa9NZwv9rmAJ6vEQyK.png)

A word that was created to convey, unequivocally and quickly, that everything was fine on the other end, or that one agreed with the situation described. This helped avoid misunderstandings or drawn-out conversations. But this word emerged as a linguistic tool to shorten and clarify communications long before the digital age, around 1830. Nowadays, its use has become widespread, and the entire conversation process has even become trivialized. How many of us, if we haven’t been one of the two parties involved, haven’t witnessed situations where family members, instead of communicating directly while in the same house, prefer to send text messages—or even voice messages—to communicate or ask a question? And most likely, one of the most frequent responses to a message is a simple “OK,” or “Ya,” or “Alright.” How often do these words—even when exchanged verbally—pass between us without our eyes ever meeting? Does the television, or the computer, or the cell phone, end up filling the entire acoustic, or even visual, space with content that, despite having no relevance to the conversation, is so addictive that we lack the courage to look away from those screens? When we respond briefly and succinctly with a simple “OK,” it ends up transforming the entire dynamic—both of the conversation and of the development of critical or even creative thinking—which would be essential to emerge through the conversation and mutual analysis of each other’s ideas, as well as the presentations and arguments we might be making. A cut, an amputation, or simply an action seen as avoiding confrontation with the other person or with the outside world. And is that beneficial? When we avoid confrontation or the exchange of ideas, the other person has no idea what we might be thinking, or whether there is in fact another approach to the problem that might be better, more creative, or even more effective. The act of closing the doors and windows of conversation and healthy dialogue—which isn’t always about agreement—ultimately leads to the shutdown of an entire building! In today’s world, there is far more communication than in 1830 when the word was “invented.” Do not think that we communicate less today. Quite the contrary. The world has never seen as much information and communication as it does now. Today we communicate more than ever, but in a fragmented, fast-paced, and simplified way—or almost always geared toward an immediate response. A sharp increase in the number of communication channels and the volume of information has only served to convey much more noise, and not necessarily an increase in cognitive and interpersonal capacity. _Consume immediately. Open. Throw away._ The development of thought ends up being almost undesirable. What used to emerge from a conversation—today, despite the thousands of messages exchanged across various communication platforms, the gigabytes of photos, videos, etc.—we adapt the outside world to our inner selves. We want an experience tailored to our own scale and personalized. We don’t want the slightest bit of conflict or difficulty. _“Everything ‘has an answer.’ That answer must be in ChatGPT, or if it isn’t, it’s because it doesn’t matter.”_ ![separador.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/xrayman/23swppYGLECw991bW1wsSTEwnV8YKgqPHaiAdDJioriDcMJR4GymNLH1VbQ98ykpBYkob.png) ^{Image by Gisela Merkuur from Pixabay} ^{Original text written by @xrayman in Portuguese and translated with DeepL.com (free version)} ^{Source used in this post:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK} ![XRayMan.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/xrayman/23tSNKgT6Zssji2twDxLZSeSESs2q8pnNUYQuFe7gqFkFFT3rrjE8pcMnXVcFpd87PxJY.gif)