Easily Misunderstood Essay

How often have you found yourself talking to someone close to you, thinking the conversation is going along great when the other person reacts in an irritated manner? Or even an anxious manner? You think back to what you have said, reviewing your comments and nothing sticks out as being particularly bad. Well you have just experienced a misunderstanding. For many people, their communication skills with loved ones are not as strong as they think† (Anon. , 2011, p. 1). Communication is a two way street where both people need to be traveling the same direction. When one person gets off course or veers then we have a miscommunication. In the article entitled, â€Å"Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication† study co-author Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, explained, â€Å"Our problem in communicating with friends and spouses is that we have an illusion of insight. Getting close to someone appears to create the illusion of understanding more than actual understanding† (as cited in Anon. , 2011, p. 1). I had just such a miscommunication take place tonight. â€Å"As social animals, we want and need connections with other people† (Soles, 2011, p. 22). Tonight I experienced a miscommunication with my family. We were planning to get together as we usually try to do on Monday nights, due to misunderstanding and miscommunication on everyone’s part we did not end up getting together. I wanted that connection to my family. So alas I write this paper about that very miscommunication instead. Our first mistake was trying to organize it through texting and two different people trying to coordinate it at the same time. That never works. Secondly, my mom assumed no one was going to show up so she made other plans before waiting for any of us to answer back. The only plus to the experience is she did let us know in time so we didn’t head to her house and accidentally show up when her friend did too. To avoid this type of miscommunication in the future we could talk on the phone or email everyone at one time. Also clarify when one thinks the response is in the negative and not the affirmative. If one of us is questioning an answer as iffy then ask the sender to clarify their response and not assume it is an automatic no. These days with all the social media, texting, emailing, etc. I find miscommunications to be more prevalent and more abundant. Many of us have had our feelings hurt by a simple misunderstanding or misspelling when receiving an electronic message. In my example from tonight there were too many veering cars on our road to communicating though luckily no collisions. Had we just communicated more openly and honestly not assuming anything we could have avoided the misunderstandings and any potential hurt feelings. Communication is a two way street but you both have to be going the same direction or it leads to miscommunication.