Ian McGraw
NURS 2460
27 January 2020
Blog 2
Earlier this week, I was able to take some time just to people watch– or in a more professional form-observe. With such a busy schedule this semester, it was nice to be able to employ some of my free time into this exercise and see what others around me do when faced with a vast amount of ways to communicate with their peers. So, I went to the Ohio Union to observed a wide range of individuals from college students, staff, adults, children, and even animals to see how they communicate and interact with each other.
After spending over thirty minutes in the Union observing people, the most common sight that I saw was college students independently sitting in a chair on their phones with headphones in. I am not shocked by this result as I myself do the same thing; for me it counts as a mid-day break between classes just to relax and catch up on things through social media and such. But with this result, it shows how so much communication takes place with texting instead of face-to-face in society today. The next type of communication I saw was a group of two or three college students that were verbally communicating, but with very poor nonverbal communication techniques. Rather than putting down their phones, actually listening to one another talk and creating good discussion, it looked as if when any of them talked no one was interested. That was one scenario that made me realize how important nonverbal communication is. With the addition of eye contact, facial expression, and overall consideration of the person talking, those girls could have made whoever was talking feel more important about what they had to say. I myself am guilty of this habit as well; even when I go out to dinner I will sometimes feel the need to go on my phone when communication is occurring in the group itself. I realize that it is extremely disrespectful but I do it anyways, but my goal is to work on this in the future as it will not only help my communication skills, but also my way of therapeutical communication in the clinical setting.
The best type of communication I saw in my time at the Union dealt with great nonverbal communication and a small amount of verbal. As stated in class, 90% of communication deals with nonverbal as the top priority in society and the hospital setting, and the scenario I observed perfectly fit that description. There was a father and his little son that stopped to take a picture with the infamous Brutus bench statue, as do most people when it is their first time visiting the campus. The kid was so happy and excited to sit next to Brutus, and his father was too; they both had huge smiles on each other’s faces and both just looked so happy to be there, in the present with each other and it seemed that they did not need and technology to help support their happiness. After they took the picture, the only verbal communication I heard was, “Dad, thank you for bringing me hear!” It honestly was one of the highlights of my day to be able to see their interaction, even if it dealt with very little verbal communication.
After completing this exercise, I was able to reflect on myself and see how technology has made college students (myself included) forget their ability to communicate on a standard level. It shows that there is so much to learn still with how to better society’s skills in the verbal and nonverbal communication sector, and the ability to balance technology with those skills.