Originally Posted by
Expat
In a way, Te is about "reading the lines", while Fe is about "reading between the lines". The more you focus on what is actually written on the lines, the less you try to read between them; and the more you think you have to read between the lines, the less you pay attention to what they are actually saying. Fe and Te are a zero-sum thing.
A simple example of Te vs Fe communication problems.
When I was still living at home with my parents, I might ask my ESE mother, "so what are we having for dinner tonight"? From a Te perspective, it's a straightforward question. There is no need to intepret it. It demands simple answers, like "we're having soylent green for dinner" or "I don't know yet." Yet, invariably, my mother would reply with "what, you want to eat so early?" And I would say, "no, I just asked what we're going to eat, I said nothing about eating right now". Her natural instinct was to reply to what she thought I meant with my question, not the question itself.