To Lie or not to Lie?
To lie or not to lie, that is the question. In today’s world the question seems more to be how much to Lie? Lying is such commonplace that we have become numb to lying. It is much more accepted than hearing the truth. People have all kinds of reason for not telling the truth from, the other person can’t handle the truth (yes I went there) to the fact that it is no big deal, nobody got hurt. What does lying do for you and to you? Do people lie more or less in different forms of communication?
What does lying do for you? I think the simple answer is that it prolongs the truth. The truth has a funny way of making its way to the person who has been lied to. It is like the truth has radar. Lying to people to me is a game of hide and seek. The real issue is that if you lie and prolong the truth for an extended period of time and when the person finds out they tend to be upset disproportionally than the actual lie due to the time. Most people use a lie due to the lack of planning on their part. You may also find lies described as excuses in certain situations. These can be more difficult to see and understand. Lying also delays the pain that the person telling it feels. In most cases delaying the pain just causes even more pain than if you told the truth immediately.
What does lying do to you? Simply it damages your credibility. Depending on the severity of your deception it could be massive or little by little over time. This applies to all areas of your life professional and personal. Do you really want to be known as the “guy that is always late” or the “girl that can’t get her reports in on time?” Lying to people puts a label on you. There is a lot of ambiguity and justification when it comes to lying. We also live in a world where confrontation about lying is minimal
People do lie to differing degrees depending on the form of communication. You would be surprised to know that most people find it easiest to lie on the phone followed closely by speaking face to face. You may think that people would lie more in things like email, tweets and on facebook. The reason is very simple. The latter three are written and a copy can be found very easily. The former two forms a person can say things like, “I don’t remember saying that” and “what I meant by that was.” It turns out that when there is a copy of something readily available, as there always is in electronic communication, people are much more careful with their words. Remember that your words and actions have lasting affects on you and the people around you. When you lie to another person remember that there are consequences.
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