Communication is perhaps the most important tool in society today. Interpersonal communication is a form of this and can be described as an exchange of information to build and end relationships with others (Gamble and Gamble 2008, p.4). A breakdown in communication at any level can drastically change the intention of a message. This is evident even on a personal level such as the occasion in which I went to a dinner party with my family.
Interpersonal communication is one of the most vital and common human tools used throughout the world. As such it is important to understand how communication works and the process’s involved in its use. When communication occurs it often goes unnoticed, however when a breakdown in communication happens it …show more content…
Several months ago I was attending a dinner party at my stepfather’s house with my family and his family, this is the context of the communication breakdown, who are primarily farmers from Ceduna. These people are both the senders (myself and my family) and recievers (my stepfathers family). This means that they are rural and have rural views, they are slightly behind the times. They are also of an older generation and have little contact wth younger people. Strom and Strom (2014) explain that in a modern society, younger people are more likely to form bonds with people similar to their own age and as such can have difficulty in expressing themselves to older generations. This was evident during the dinner as my family and I were asked different questions. Fairly ordinary questions to be asked in such an environment such as where we studied, what our career plans were, and perhaps most importantly who we were dating. It was this question that caused the breakdown in …show more content…
After she explained this I interjected with the sarcastic statement “he was mine first,” which was intended to be a humourous jest that the fact that I had known him longer. This statement was aimed more towards my sister who knows that this is a long running joke between us. However, a misunderstanding in my sarcasm caused them to interpret this message as the idea that myself and my sisters partner used to date. This misinterpretation of the message could have occured due to the way that older generations have difficulty in understanding sarcasm. This could be due to a degradation of facial-emotional perception in the elderly or could be due to a common way of seeing the world in a more positive way, meaning that the negative connotations of sarcasm are partially ignored by them (Phillips et al 2015, p. 1814-1852). The aformentioned recievers then questioned if this was the case and I, who had failed to decode their feedback as misunderstanding, thought it would be a good to keep this poorly construed joke going and proudly (but still sarcastically) informed them that “we were lovers until she (I pointed at my sister) stole him from
Interpersonal communication is one of the most vital and common human tools used throughout the world. As such it is important to understand how communication works and the process’s involved in its use. When communication occurs it often goes unnoticed, however when a breakdown in communication happens it …show more content…
Several months ago I was attending a dinner party at my stepfather’s house with my family and his family, this is the context of the communication breakdown, who are primarily farmers from Ceduna. These people are both the senders (myself and my family) and recievers (my stepfathers family). This means that they are rural and have rural views, they are slightly behind the times. They are also of an older generation and have little contact wth younger people. Strom and Strom (2014) explain that in a modern society, younger people are more likely to form bonds with people similar to their own age and as such can have difficulty in expressing themselves to older generations. This was evident during the dinner as my family and I were asked different questions. Fairly ordinary questions to be asked in such an environment such as where we studied, what our career plans were, and perhaps most importantly who we were dating. It was this question that caused the breakdown in …show more content…
After she explained this I interjected with the sarcastic statement “he was mine first,” which was intended to be a humourous jest that the fact that I had known him longer. This statement was aimed more towards my sister who knows that this is a long running joke between us. However, a misunderstanding in my sarcasm caused them to interpret this message as the idea that myself and my sisters partner used to date. This misinterpretation of the message could have occured due to the way that older generations have difficulty in understanding sarcasm. This could be due to a degradation of facial-emotional perception in the elderly or could be due to a common way of seeing the world in a more positive way, meaning that the negative connotations of sarcasm are partially ignored by them (Phillips et al 2015, p. 1814-1852). The aformentioned recievers then questioned if this was the case and I, who had failed to decode their feedback as misunderstanding, thought it would be a good to keep this poorly construed joke going and proudly (but still sarcastically) informed them that “we were lovers until she (I pointed at my sister) stole him from