Saturday, March 3, 2012
Attention please
I find it very difficult to focus at times when listening to certain individuals. Sometimes these individuals are the ones closest to me. As stated from the book we have to be selective of what we pay attention to therefore we screen out most of the sensory data that surrounds us (Trenholm, 2011). I tend to do this often when I am engulfed in a busy workday. I thought this concept from the book aligned with my attitude of communication pretty well. I can recall a number of times when I simply zone out and pay little attention to those who need my attention. I don’t purposely do it. There are just times in the day where I constantly focus on other things that keep my mind occupied. So it is not the lack of interest I find in communicating, it’s the distraction of everyday life that get in the way of normal communication functions including my attention.
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Hi Mall7,
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree with you more. I find that I tune out certain people and situations too. You mentioned that sometimes these people are close to you. In my experience we take for granted those we close to (many times this is a subconscious act) know that if we ever needed to hear the information again all we would have to do is ask. We also do screen and/or filter out or take in information as necessary. You have probably heard the phrase before, “selective hearing.” I think this phrase is used A LOT by Mom’s when talking to their kids, and they are spot on! Kids (people in general) filter out what they do and do not want to hear. I mean, I think we’d go crazy if we actually internalized EVERYTHING we heard!
The Fur-Kid
I feel the exact same way that you do with this. If someone wants to have a meaningful conversation with me I will sit down and talk with them but then later on half way through the talk I find myself zoning out on the ones who need to talk the most and I end up making them mad because I'm not paying attention. I always start off paying attention but then my mind wanders to something else that I know I have to get done that day or something that the person talking to me said made me think of something else. Another thing I do is just sit there and occasionally nod my head and say "mhmmm" which in times gets me places but others it gets me in trouble.
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