Blog Post #1- Barriers of Listening

     Talking and listening go hand-in-hand. Without talking there would be nothing to listen to; but without listening, there would be no talking. Conversations are important. Communication is important. Most of the time, conversations, though, are always interrupted and communication is always cut off. Distractions stop people from talking and listening. These distractions fall into three different categories: external, internal, and physiological. These barriers are important to notice, so that people can stay present in conversation and communication. 

     Looking deeper, external distraction can be a sound, like clicking of pens. Next, internal distraction can be thoughts, or conversation you have with yourself; like what homework you need to get done. Lastly, physiological distraction is the actual action of distraction your body has, like if you were nervous and your hands were shaky. External, internal, and physiological distractions sum up all distraction in conversation. I think it is important to recognize what distractions there might be around you, so that you can focus on the conversation instead of whatever might hold you back. Be present with people. In class someone said, “If you care you listen." It's true. “Caring and listening go hand-in-hand.” If people truly cared about one another, distractions would be ignored, internal conversation would be at minimum, and people would be focused to listen and communicate. It takes being patient and getting outside your own head. This is a hard thing to do, but it is an extra step in relationships that is important. 

     I know how frustrating it can be to have someone not pay attention to what you are trying to tell someone. I am the youngest sibling, of 3 kids, so growing up the three of us had get used to interruption. Without a doubt, someone was always taking care of their own needs and/or schedule, or someone was already in the middle of another conversation, someone was doing something. We were either interrupted, ignored, or told "wait till later." Distractions are part of everyone's daily life, though, not just as a child. As a college student now, you have to balance a healthy lifestyle. There's a constant flow of conversation with yourself, and conversation with family and friends. It's a lot to take in on a daily basis, but if you take a minute to slow down and focus on what people are saying, life would be more enriched with good relationships. Relationships wouldn't be cut off.

Blog Post #1

Dawson Danner
Communication 160
Blog #1
September 5, 2017

Quote:  "Talking, speaking out, or demonstrating your knowledge, and making yourself known are often taken as signs of 'real' engagement." -Ann Russo

In today's society, many people have a difficult time speaking up whether it is in class, with their family, or with their friends.  After reading "Between Speech and Silence: Reflections on Accountability", Russo hinted at many important aspects of the difference between speech and silence that made me think more about the issue.  Not only do people not speak up about what they believe, it can also be a problem in regards to engaging with another person in a simple conversation.

According to the article, "Reasons why you should speak up and why it is important to your life", the author describes reasons in which people tend to not speak up.  These reasons include worrying what people may think of you, letting people intimidate you, overall self esteem, fear that what you say will have no impact.  Although these reasons were things I had already known, hearing them from another source connect me stronger to the overall topic of not speaking up.  In the past, I had a very hard time expressing my own opinion and speaking up about certain topics.  Now that I am grown up and more mature, I no longer am self conscious and am able to speak out my own opinions and perspectives.

In conclusion, according to Russo, many people fear to speak up in many different types of situations that they are in.  Whether it is giving an opinion, or speaking up during a simple conversation with another person, talking, speaking out, or demonstrating your knowledge on a certain topic are all ways to show signs of real engagement.

Article I used: https://www.warriorforum.com/mind-warriors/1210187-reasons-why-you-should-speak-up-why-important-your-life.html

Blog Post #1- Listening

     In the world we live in today, we are surrounded by millions of little distractions ranging from street traffic to screaming children. There's a significant difference between hearing and the art of active listening. Hearing something is the physical act of the sound waves hitting your ear drum. Listening is the mental act of processing the information being thrown at you. Listening is one of the hardest skills to teach yourself but one of the most important skills you'll ever learn. There's a quote from our textbook that states, "The function of our different modes of listening is to shape the way we might develop our relationships to and with others as listeners." (Warren and Fassett).

     Last semester, I was assigned to make an appointment with my Interpersonal Communications professor out of class to just get to know each other one-on-one. I thought about the best places to sit and talk and the first place that popped in my head was Starbucks. Starbucks is a very popular studying and meeting place. Without realizing it, it was one of the most distracting places to meet. The constant loud interruptions of the expresso machine, blender, and other customers made it extremely hard to truly listen to what he had to say. I feel that our relationship could've developed differently if we were able to listen to each other better and respond more effectively. If you truly think about it, several different relationships in your life could have developed differently if more active listening was involved.

     Almost every single one of us have been caught in a conversation that we didn't want to have. In some situations, smiling and nodding is all you do while the other party is talking to you. Then, they ask you a question about what they were talking about and you are more lost than Chuck Nolan on Cast Away. These situations can be avoided by realizing that every individual you talk to can influence your life in some way. Whether it be they inspire you, hurt you, or introduce you to a new hobby. A great way to practice this is to prepare your mind before entering your next class. Empty it of all internal distraction including stress, hunger, thirst, or pain. Eat a snack, drink your coffee, and bring that bottle of water with you. When you enter the classroom, sit in the seat that is closest to the front of the class. Being close to the front allows you to free yourself of several different distractions that other students can make. Next, don't just copt down whats on the slide, take a picture of the slide and listen to what your professor has to say about it. You can write down what was on the slide later. 

     There are several other tips and tricks to help you become a better listener and a great place to start would be to look at this article. This article will help you identify key factors on when you probably aren't listening and how to catch yourself in the act. It will also provide many great ways to practice active listening skills. 

Blog Post #1 - 9/4

Kierra Gitlin
COMM 160-1070

“In general, hearing is a physiological experience in which sound waves vibrate our eardrums. We usually ignore these sounds or take them for granted. We therefore take hearing to be a passive act, contrasted with the more active of listening. In this way, listening is a practice that requires our active attention and focus.”

-Chris MrRae

    There is incredible power in knowing the difference between hearing and listening, and using this knowledge as a tool to strengthen the connections in your personal and professional lives. Listening is a mindful and active process and requires engagement from both the sender and the receiver.

    In this age, we are flooded with distraction. These distractions take away from our ability to be fully committed to our conversations and connections. This can be seen in the all too familiar scenario where you are telling a friend a story or experience, but they are plugged in to their phone, pseudo listening to what you are saying. They may claim that they are multitasking, and they may actually be hearing what you have to say; however, they are not listening to you, do to their lack of mindfulness and active attention.

    Listening is a mindful process, meaning you have to be conscious or aware of what you are hearing. For some, the art of listening is hard to comprehend, because it is not a tangible act. As a listener, I deeply respect whoever I am speaking to, because speaking requires immense vulnerability. When you understand the power of vulnerability, you begin to expand your perception. You have to lean into the discomfort that this brings, because through it you will find connection. Connection, is why all of us humans are here. We are neurobiologically wired to crave and seek connection, which can happen when we apply the concept of mindful listening.

References

McRae, Chris. “Compassionate Critical Listening.” Communication Process and Skills.

September Blog Post

Jorre Delgado

Communications 160

Blog #1

Position as listeners

            The statement in our readings that I have found to be the most important is this statement, “Our stance as listeners is always shaped by our individual position as listeners, depending on the context, we may have varying degrees of expertise in or knowledge about the modes of listening we enact.” (pg.67) This statement helps us look more deeply into one of the modes of listening.

            When reading the compassionate critical listening sections, it began to break down listening and explaining how modes can help us better listen and communicate. Modes of listening simply help to take in consideration how context, personal experiences, and our culture might affect the way we are listening to others. Modes of listening just help all of us realize that everyone is going to be different in the ways that we communicate or in this sense listen to one another. I think the modes of listening that we read about in our book can really help one pick the right way to listen and approach a situation.

            The part that I want to focus most on is the position that we take as listeners. The positon that we decide to take when having a conversation with someone or watching something really is important. It determines how we are going to respond and how closely we are listening. So many factors can take part in not fully listening, for example, if we are not interested in the topic we may tend to just listen to certain parts but say it was a topic that we were passionate about then we are most likely going to being listening closely and engaging in the conversation. Also, the environment takes a big tole on listening because not only do the things going on around us distract us but they take away from us listening and paying attention to whom we are listening to. And one last thing that plays an important role in listening is who it might be that we are having conversation with. For example, if we are having conversation with a teacher it may differ than from a friend or if we are having conversation with someone that we may like in a romantic sense then that might also make a difference on how closely we are listening.

            Position as listeners plays a really big role in my day to day life. I work for an Interior Design company and when people come in looking to make selections for their homes I need to make sure that I am listening to what they want and make sure that I am asking questions so that I can do my job to the best of my ability. Even if I may not connect with that customer and feel that I know what exactly they are looking for I still need to listen and help as much as possible. I also work a lot over the phone with clients and to make sure that I am getting their orders and requests put in correctly my position as a listener needs to be very active and attentive. This also has to do with the stance that I have when in the work environment.  A stance is just simply the way we approach others and other situations or experiences. And for me my stance while at work needs to be professional and my position as a listener needs to be very active. Overall this section in the book about compassionate critical listening has been very relatable to my day to day life in school and at work.

Reference:                              

McRae, Chris. “Compassionate Critical Listening”. Communication Processes and Skills.

Speech and Silence

"Talking, speaking out, demonstrating your knowledge, and making yourself known are taken as signs of "real" engagement."-Ann Russo

With how my life has changed drastically in the past several years, I understand the difference between speech and silence. I felt a connection to Ann Russo's article that was to be read by last Tuesday. As I might feel as if I've changed my life for the better in recent years, and can compete with more successful people in the community, I understand that not everyone is as privileged as I am. I agree with Ann's article where she says that white people, for example, are privileged and are too afraid to speak up and admit it. Ann's article discussed the difference between speech and silence as a matter of speaking up or not for what's morally correct for our nation's culture.

Ink.com wrote an article on 5 reasons why you should speak up. The fifth reason they mentioned why you should speak up is because you may not be alone. I think this is the message that Ann is trying to tell in her writing, that white people need to step up to point out prejudices in society, and not just do it for attention and personal gain. In Ann's words, white people have to speak out about injustices without making themselves, "the centers of power and knowledge". You can view our society as being a system of power, one that easily will take in account prejudices that work against you, not just racism, but look down on you for the class you are as well. This can be a problem in my viewpoint because your race, class, and also gender are things that are not entirely up to you to decide.

The personal connection I have with this article is the title, Between Speech and Silence. I have a hard time speaking up in all sorts of ways compared to how I was in the past, even if my life is better organized now. Something included that I struggle speaking up about is my political opinions in a face to face argument. Hopefully as a communication major I can understand in the next few years if creating an argument is worth it or not. Maybe it is, if you're fighting the injustices in the world.



https://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/5-reasons-you-should-speak-up-even-when-you-think-you-shouldnt.html

Blog Post #1 9/4

Cassandra Ostermeier

Communication 160

Blog #1

“Listening as a stance is a way for you to encounter the world and others as fully present, with your whole body’ (McRae).

When many people think or refer to listening, they believe it is similar if not the same as hearing; they use it interchangeably. What many do not realize is how different the two really are. For the longest time, many of us probably thought of it the same way too.

I believe this quote has a strong meaning to not only my life, but many others. An example from just every day life that I thought of the second after I read this quote from Chapter 4, was technology, especially our phones, and how distracting they can be. I do not know how many times I have been talking to someone, I have seen someone talking to someone else, or even someone has been talking to me and I have been on my phone only hearing what they have to say and not actually listening to them. The best part about it is when that person talking asks if you are listening, the other person says yes, then they ask what they were talking about and the other person says “Uhh. . .”, “I don't know”, or makes up something. Most of the time, we are wrong when we guess and it frustrates so many of us when this happens; Yet, we still do it on a day to day basis. 

This quote says you [can] encounter the world and others as fully present. After reading this quote and section of our reading, I sat there and thought to myself for a little thinking about how un-present we are in many of our day to day conversations we have with others. It made me wonder how much more we could get out of people and understand them better even if we just took the thirty seconds it takes to have those conversations with others. Chris McRae supports this by saying, “The function of our different modes of listening is to shape the way we might develop our relationships to and with others as listeners.” It can change how we experience people and the relationships we want with them by being present and engaging in the conversation with your whole body. 

References

McRae, Chris. “Compassionate Critical Listening.” Communication Process and Skills.