Chapter 4 was about Listening and how essential listening is.
I agree that listening is essential, however I also find it over rated a bit. There is too much emphasis on listening and not acknowledging the barriers that can occur that can make it appear as someone is NOT listening.
When we talk to someone, or chat/email/text etc., we like to receive acknowledgment that the receiver heard what we said. I know I get mad when someone doesn't reply to me with a "haha", "oh", "ah" etc at minimum when I talk, because then I am left with the belief that they aren't listening. Other times, that "oh" or "ah" can be perceived as "fake listening"
Other times, there can be language barriers that can create misunderstandings, which also appear to some as the listener isn't really listening.
Or, someone can only hold an attention span for so long, and then begins to have the mind wander, and thus listening is forgotten. Or the exact opposite, someone is listening, but can't interpret what is being said.
I believe listening needs to be associated with non-verbal means. And in some cases, we need to assess the way we communicate to someone and perhaps find a way to make communication more effective for that person. Thus, communicating face to face can be more effective, as it is better to assess the circumstance that you can't do behind a screen, or in some cases maybe communicating through a screen is more effective. But to determine what works best, one must assess the person they are trying to communicate with.
Thats just my .02 worth.
1 comment:
Hey Paula, I really enjoyed reading your post. I though it was very insightful and something you were very passionate about. I agree with you and think that almost everyone can say that we get a little frustrated when we think that the other person is not taking the time to listen to us. I also really liked that you focused on other mediums of communication such as texting or IMing. I've never really thought about listening in that context. I am also one of those people whose a little text communication challenged..I feel like so many times things you say in a text get taken out of context especially if someone is trying to have a serious conversation with texting, i hate that. My philosophy is usually wait till I talk to the person because 9/10 what we think they meant in the text is not at all what they actually meant to say. Thank you for bringing that specific form of listening to my attention, I've never thought about it. And I'm glad I'm not the only person who sometimes feels frustrated with those forms of communication!
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