Quiet Points Listen to the following TED Talk, Julian Treasure, 5 Ways to Listen
ID: 3443167 • Letter: Q
Question
Quiet Points
Listen to the following TED Talk, Julian Treasure, 5 Ways to Listen Better TED Global, 2011; https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better?language=en
Do you agree with his premise that the world is “too loud?” What were the three most important themes to you? Why? In what ways are we not able to listen to the “quiet points” and how, specifically, do you think we all can improve in this area? Reflect on what you have learned from the text? What strategies could you implement to improve your listening? You will need to include 3-5 textbook citations. The paper should be 3-4 pages in length.
Explanation / Answer
Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. Also, I recommend that you elaborate the answer based on your personal response or classwork as prescribed in the question. Use your personal understanding of the issue to make the answer as long as 3-4 pages.
(Answer) In modern times, communication has become far less tedious than it was a few decades ago. Letters, wires and telegrams took days or even months to finish a simple two-way conversation. Telephones were scarce, but even when they did get popular, international phone calls were choppy at best.
With the advancement in technology, people at antipodes are able to communicate easily through telephone or video calls. Emails, which are popular for formal communication usually takes seconds or less to reach the recipient.
Business, friendly communication and even classified information are easily exchanged through these modern mediums. When a medium is popular, it becomes a spot for advertisement. A platform that is used for advertisement consists of sellers, buyers, competitors and sponsors, thus making it a marketplace. The world has become “too loud” simply because modern communication media has a symbiotic marketplace that feeds off it.
Social media platforms have become like a virtual “times square”, with adverts and businesses all over the place. Each of these entities competes with each other to get the most attention from the consumers. The result is garish communication tactics that continuously talk to us without ever inculcating the value of listening.
Themes:
When Soundbites and sensationalism are so popular, people usually jump to take sides even for complicates issues. There are some problems that go beyond “Yes or no.” Controversial issues like the “pro-life or pro-choice” problem goes beyond picking a side. There has been a flimsy focus on the women involved in making the choice. People are yet to talk about financial responsibilities of the biological father, government aid to single mothers, healthcare for children, primary education facilities and other issues that are actually the reason why it becomes difficult for parents to bring up a child, let alone a single mother. When such issues are listened to, analysed and even well-addressed, the life or choice issue should be able to become a thing of the past. When a complex issue is reduced to nothing more than a quick opinion when views are filtered, Soundbites and sensationalism, a potential life form is reduced to nothing but an opinion and not an ethical discussion.
Good listening can be observed in people with a certain amount of patience. It takes patience to give someone else a chance to talk. It takes a certain sense of selflessness to assume that perhaps someone else’s opinion or story is just as important or perhaps more important than yours. Above all, it takes a profound understanding to learn that if my own opinion goes unsaid, the world would not meet any catastrophe.
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