Verbal communication is crucial in every aspect of life, but it’s especially important in your career. Even if they’re paying attention, cues like eye contact, verbal acknowledgement, and replying with insightful comments matters. We can all tell when we’re speaking with someone who is zoned out. The other side of active listening is making sure the other person knows that you’re doing so.
#Attentive listening tv
If you’re watching TV or scrolling through TikTok on your phone while someone is talking, you’re not actively listening. Active listening requires paying attention. Instead, you consciously analyze what you hear, and try to pick up on intent, content, and emotion from the speaker. It involves more than listening to the words they say. Rather than giving someone a fraction of your attention, active listening is making a conscious effort to hear, understand, and retain information that’s being relayed to you. Active listening aims to solve this problem.
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Whether you’re in a classroom, a business setting, or a relationship, failing to hear 75% what’s said to you is a recipe for disaster. According to the University of Missouri, 45% of communication is listening, and yet the average person remembers only half to a quarter of the information they hear. Still, we’ve all been guilty of mental multitasking at some point. It’s annoying and disrespectful, especially when the topic is particularly important or sensitive. We’ve all been in conversations where we suspected that the other person wasn’t really paying attention.