Sunday, October 21, 2012
Chapter 7- Post 1
A recent situation in which I found listening difficult was this weekend while trying to have a conversation at a bar. I was trying to catch up with an old friend I had run in to but the bar was so crowded and noisy that it made it extremely difficult to sense or hear the message. The text states that sensing or hearing the message is a voluntary act in which we choose certain sounds and noises to pay attention to, while avoiding others (Harris & Sherblom, 2011, p. 115). While I was trying to focus on what he was saying, I was distracted by the amounts of external and internal noise that were caused by the surroundings. Overall, the quality of the conversation was affected by these factors so we weren’t able to catch up as much as we had hoped. This situation could have been improved if we had stepped aside somewhere more quiet to have a conversation that is not affected by noisy distractions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
i know exactly what you mean by having all the external noise. i think i make matters worse though. I nod along to the conversation and making nonverbal cues of agreement with what they are saying, even if i don't understand them or i can't hear them. I feel really bad for doing it too. But, i don't want to keep asking them to repeat what they are saying, especially in a venue where you have to yell because the place is too loud. I guess the best thing you can do in that situation is to ask them to carry that conversation else where or at another time. But, venue is really key to having and listening to a conversation.
ReplyDelete