LISTENING IS AN ART

LISTENING IS AN ART

Research corroborates the view that human beings spend more time listening than speaking. It is a skill most used by all of us,but we get little training on this. On the other hand ,right from our school days,we are formally trained in all the other language skills,namely speaking,reading,and writing. It is primarily so because listening is usually taken for granted. It is presumed that by making a child sit while being spoken to,we can also make him/her listen. So,the child sits,but does not listen to the teacher or the parent. While attending a lecture or talk,some of the listeners just tune out,or get caught up in an internal dialogue trying to translate a specific word,or think of something more interesting happening somewhere else outside the room.

Considering listening as a potentially stressful business ,many people sit through speeches fretfully and hence miss the mark by miles. This probably explains why listening is considered as one of the stressful tasks,a fact that makes successful listening all the more challenging -something which if ever to be conquered would require a lot of practice over a long period of time.

However,it is not just psychology that makes way for such lack of interest in the listening activity. Research has established that human beings can speak at the rate of about 125-150 words per minute,whereas human brain can process 500-700 words per minute. This means that we are able to use just 25% of our mind power and 75% is left unused while we listen to others. Consequently,most of us are more interested in speaking than listening to others. So in the name of listening what people do most of the time is hearing. Are these two different from each other? Ofcourse check out my next post.

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Posted by prakash chand thapliyal