CCA #3

Misconceptions about Communication

There are many misconceptions about communication, these misconceptions are what cause problems between different communicators. There are, in my opinion, two main misconceptions that tend to cause the most disagreements between two parties. These misconceptions would include ‘communication is simple’ and ‘more communication is always better’.
Many think and would agree that communication is simple because most people, pretty easily, learn the basics of a language from their parents. In reality, yes those who have been exposed to it can learn the basics, but communication, as seen in Understanding Human Communication, is much more than words itself. Communication can be seen everywhere in life, and it appears in many different forms and many different difficulty levels. This is why when we see an important political speech or even an acceptance speech at the Oscars, people have carefully put their words together, or even had someone else do it for them. When I watch the Oscars and I see an actor or actress with a speech that has put some thought put into it, you feel they are more intelligent and grateful than someone who tries to come up with something off the top of their head; showing that communication is something that needs to be worked at. “… [Even] the most inept of us can learn to be more effective with training and practice, and those who are talented can always become better,” (Sevigny, et al, 29) this shows that communication is ever evolving and proves that it’s not as simple as it would appear.
More communication is not always better, Understanding Human Communication gives a good example of ‘talking a problem to death,’ this, in no way, ever helps anyone. When two people get into a fight, and wish to talk until it’s better, most of the time it the problem ends up being magnified. Sometimes people get carried away with verbal communication and try to speak out about something until it has been drowned out, when in reality, no communication or other forms should be shown. For example, with hurricane Katrina, all of the celebrities had something to say about how affairs should be handled, they aren’t professional communicators and they enjoy being in the spotlight, so was it really a good idea to put them all on TV to speak out? At a charity telethon, when Kanye West made rude comments about Bush, it was too much, but these things happen when someone is asked the same question constantly about the same thing or when someone has just been given too much opportunity to speak about one topic of one incident. If questions were more varied and focus was directed to more knowledgeable people of the situation, unnecessary comments would not have been made. Communication is one of the most important assets to our society, but when one form is used too much the outcome can be the opposite from what was desired.
Misconceptions about communication are understandable given that it is usually not a topic that most people give any thought. I believe that ‘communication is not simple’ and ‘more communication is not always better’ are the two biggest misconceptions because they are the ones that appear to occur most often. Misconceptions of communication are not obvious and tend to occur quite often if mistakes aren’t observed.