CMST 192 2:00-3:15 pm - Dr. Fischer
Chapter 5 Reflection

Listening skills are a very important for each and every person to have. Without them, how is one able to understand another? We are all guilty of poor listening at some point, especially in this generation because of all the technology we have access to. Cell phones are one of the biggest distractions to listening that I have seen. A lot of times you will see students sitting on their phones during the middle of a lecture or even sitting on their phones at a dinner table rather than listening to what the people around them have to say. Other examples of reasons for poor listening are things like the effort a person is willing to put in, being overloaded with too much information at once, not knowing enough about the topic prior, just listening to respond and not actually taking what the person is saying into consideration or simply just not having respect for a person who may be speaking. There are many ways that a person can help themselves become a better listener such as reducing noise, putting in the effort to listen, stay focused on the conversation, try to have prior knowledge, avoid distractions and be respectful! I personally am someone who is very easily distracted by my phone during classes and that is something I am trying to work on because as soon as I put it away I will get so much more out of the classes I am taking. Noise doesn’t just have to be physical, it can be psychological which is what distracts me from listening in class a lot of the time. I am a soccer player here at SCSU where we are up and on our way to practice at 6:20 every morning. With that being said it is safe to say that I am tired and most likely hungry going into my classes which distracts me from listening and getting the most out of class. Every one person has their own personal listening style. Of the four listening styles in the book and that were discussed in class, I would say I am an analytical listener. I am someone who can analyze situations from a variety of different perspectives and points of view.