Nonlistening

I think the biggest type of nonlistening I do is selective listening. As a student, it is really hard to hear everything in class, so you kind of train yourself to listen to important keywords and concepts. Another one that I have found myself in is pseudolistening. I find that this happens the most when a group of people are talking about something and I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I try and listen really hard in the hopes of connecting somewhere, but at this point I just do not want to seem rude and walk out of the conversation. 

Overcoming selective listening will be a challenge because it probably happens when we do not even realize it. Perhaps I can listen to the whole lecture in class and jot down key words instead of taking notes. If I listen to the whole lecture, at the end when I review the teacher’s notes, it will probably be more familiar. To overcome pseudolistening, I should learn to walk away before getting too involved and finding myself pretending to listen. If I feel the conversation has changed to an unknown topic, I should excuse myself and return to the conversation later on.