July 10, 2014

           Whenever people ask me if I’m engaged in social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, my answer is always no. No matter whom the person is their reaction is the same: “Really? Wow!” They are so flabbergasted because almost everyone my age is on some type of social media; someone once told me that I’m a relic of this generation. When I was a teenager social media sites became extremely popular and everyone bought into the concept of interacting with each other by simply clicking a mouse. Although my friends pushed me to join in on their supposed fun I wasn’t comfortable with people being in my personal life without my knowledge. I had no desire to waste my time on social media because I felt that I had better things to do. Social media never became appealing because every day students came to school fighting about something somebody said or did on Facebook the previous night. To me there was no benefit in being a part of unnecessary gossip and drama caused by social media. My mom hammered titanium nails into social media’s coffin because she forbid my sister and I from ever taking part in it. Even now as a young adult I have no plans of becoming involved in social media for recreational purposes. However, I understand the benefits it has in the world of business and recognize that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to engage in social media for such purposes.

            As I explained in my previous blog, my favored personal listening style is the content-oriented listening style. This is my favorite listening style because I “prefer to focus on the facts and evidence in a message” (Verderber & Verderber 199). I love detailed information, embrace the challenge of listening to complex messages, and ask questions to get more information I can think about. Paying close attention to the things my conversational partner says allows me to understand what they are saying, why they are saying it, and respond appropriately, all of which contribute to a meaningful conversation. I appreciate how this listening style challenges me to carefully evaluate all of the information in the messages I encounter because it allows me to better my communication skills (Verderber & Verderber 199). Since I don’t engage in social media I don’t consider myself a social media addict, so it is difficult for me to evaluate how any social media habits have an impact on my listening style. I imagine that if I was on social media other people wouldn’t get much of my attention. I would be so focused on the countless posts or comments people make that I wouldn’t be able to listen to just one person. There is no question that I would miss massive amounts of content in class if I was on social media during lecture. I know this because I sit next to people who are on social media throughout entire classes, whether it is by way of a phone or computer. Then when I see them in the hallway the next day they stop and ask me what happened in class.

 I will never understand what is so important on Facebook that it can’t wait until after class. It doesn’t make sense to me why they pay money to go to college and obtain an education just to ignore the knowledge professors are offering. Not being on social media allows me to get the most out of my education and makes my learning experience far more enriching. It also demonstrates respect for my professors because they know that I’m there to learn and genuinely want to hear what they have to say. I would tell anyone that paying attention to the professor instead of social media sites is incredibly beneficial on numerous levels. Would they listen to me though? Probably not.

Works Cited

Verderber, Kathleen S. & Rudolph F. Verderber. Inter-Act: Interpersonal Communication             Concepts, Skills, and Contexts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.