Why Is Nobody Listening To Me?
photo credit: Paulgi
Don’t we just hate being ignored? It raises so many emotional feelings and reactions, doesn’t it.
To communicate effectively in a noisy and crowded environment takes some degree of skill. Sometimes, in a crowded environment, everyone wants to be heard. Some will shout or break off into separate individual conversations.
Poor communication has evidenced as a learned behavior. We see this in action all too often on the TV in soap operas and also in places where one would think it would not happen, such as the UK parliament. Jeering and shouting in parliament displays something akin to a pantomime. In a paradoxical way, it does draw attention by spectators, but also, in my view teaches a poor way to make a point.
So how can we elicit effective attention?
Asking questions can help. The most effective questions that are eye or ear catching are more than just general questions. If the question has a more personal nature to it that could result in a valuable transaction on both sides. It is more likely to get attention from more people. I saw an example of this today on Facebook by a fellow blogger, Dani Nir-McGrath, who posted a picture of lizard or snake like creature. She used a headline above the picture stating;
“Ack! The baby and I just found this on our yard. What IS it?”
This certainly caught my attention and I noticed that many others chose to respond to the question offering answers. This could potentially lead in to a debate.
Let’s break this question down.
“Ack!” – A kind of expletive indicating some kind of warning.
“The baby” – This appeals to people suggesting that a vulnerable child could be in danger.
“on our yard” – This is close up and of a very personal nature.
“What IS it? – Emphasis on “IS” tells us that the question has some urgency. The question is also demanding an answer.
Even without the picture, the question could have been worded “Ack! The baby and I found a strange and ugly, dangerous looking lizard like creature on our yard. What IS it?”
Again, I suspect, many folk may wish to investigate further and seek to help for all the reasons indicated above.
The question opens a loop to a potential discussion that others may wish to join in with. There is potential for this discussion to lead into a debate in different directions. It may lead some to Dani’s web page and other unrelated content. Some advertisers use similar examples like this explicitly to sell products. In the case I have mentioned, I believe it is a genuine piece of communication for what it is.
You have probably already realized that I used the title to todays post deliberately “Why is nobody listening to me?” to draw your attention to what I have written. There is also a deliberate grammatical error in the title!……. erm……… OK, I confess that I spotted the grammatical double negative after I’d written it, but I’ll keep it in for effect.
I’ve written this post because I feel I have something of value to share with you, especially those that also have something of value to share and want to be heard.
How do you attempt to be heard?
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Natural Reader.
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