Bad Communication Habits We Have To Get Rid Of

During conversations whether it be formal or otherwise we as a society often display at least one of the habits listed in an article written by Kat Boogaard that clearly states that there are 8 bad communication habits we need to break immediately. After further analyzing her article I for one can say that I identify myself as being someone who multitask, avoid direct contact, and use filler words during conversations. Multitasking is something that we all do at some point in a conversation. I can really relate to this and say that I often multitask during some conversations that should really have my full attention. Sometimes we multitask during conversations and we really don’t mean to offend the person speaking. In my opinion it’s really something that many people must work on. As Kat Boogaard states “Conversations deserve your full attention -- and not just the halfhearted glances you're willing to give them when you manage to rip your focus away from your iPhone screen.” I would totally agree with this statement because most times I would find myself scrolling through something on my iPhone during the middle of a conversation I’m having with others. So, this is one of the many habits I should really get to working on to improve my communication skills.

One of the biggest habits I should really improve is making in person contact with others. If possible, I would rather email or text someone about something instead of speaking to them in person. I don’t know why I feel that way really, it’s been like that for years. Somehow, I feel more comfortable that way versus looking someone in the face when talking to them. I also feel that when I avoid direct contact with others I have more to say instead of being in front of them with nothing to say. I know this seems horrible, but it works better for me that way. Especially in disagreements I sort of feel that I could better get my point across through a text because in person others might not listen to what you have to say and that cause even more conflict.

Lastly, I would like to improve on my use of filler words. This is something that I consider sort of a universal habit that people have because they can be used so naturally. When having conversations, we often use these words to kind of get ourselves back on track to what we were saying in case we get lost for words. The use of um, and uh come so quickly out our mouths in conversations that we don’t even notice that we say them. They are more common when we are nervous as stated by Kat when she says “--it's like a nervous tic for most of us.” Even though this is perhaps one of the toughest bad habits to break we must put in our best effort to take them out of our vocabulary. In doing so the conversations that we would have would be more polished and professional.

In closing, there are many bad habits that we all must work to improve for our conversations to be cleaner. As for me I can for sure say that I need to work to improve multitasking, avoiding direct contact, and using filler words during conversations. I believe if I were to improve in these areas my communication skills would be so much better than they are now. If it wasn’t for me reading Kat Boogaard’s article I would have never identified these habits that I need to work on. Not only do I need to work on them, but we all could use some improvement occasionally. That’s why I always say that there is always some room to improve in life.