What to do about people who are chatterboxes

I recently met a person who just can’t shut up.  She chatters endlessly, which wears me out.  I have discussed her tendency to dominate conversations with other people; they have noted the same way about her.   She rarely allows other people a chance to take a turn speaking during conversations.

All of us dread this woman’s invitations to spend time with us.  Perhaps she suspects that we don’t like something about her personality, which is not true: she is truly an intelligent and kind-hearted person.  The problem is only the manner in which she presents herself through conversation.   She has issues related to a sub-field of speech therapy called “pragmatics.”   

Pragmatics refers to both non-verbal and verbal aspects of communication – volume, turn taking, eye contact, attention, asking and answering questions and understanding social boundaries during conversation.

I can’t imagine anyone else spending much time with this person.  Perhaps, someday, she might (if she hasn’t already) seek out a therapist as a result of her social isolation.   It also occurs to me, however, that she might benefit much more from seeing a speech therapist than a psychologist.  I wonder whether psychologists are even trained to identify this serious problem in the artificial confines of a therapist’s office.  It’s out in the real world where this woman seems to express every thought occurs to her, driving others away in the process. 

While she is unintentionally driving others away with her chatter, this woman seems to put her energy into ever higher …

Share

Continue ReadingWhat to do about people who are chatterboxes

A sarcastic plug for more media consolidation

Rick Kaempfer, a Chicago media critic, a 20-year radio veteran, "thanks" the FCC and media conglomerates for their roles in promoting media consolidation (a development that cost Rick his job). [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8xD_BHzDqg[/youtube] What's the problem with a few huge corporations owning and operating most of our media outlets? Consider this information…

Continue ReadingA sarcastic plug for more media consolidation

Why you need to speak up, especially after louts speak up.

New research reveals even if only one or two members of a group repeats an opinion, it is likely to be seen by others as representative of the whole group. Why does this occur? It boils down to availability and memory.  Compare this to the famous social psychology experiments run by Soloman Asch…

Continue ReadingWhy you need to speak up, especially after louts speak up.

My (belated) introduction to the world of iPod

Last week, a dear friend asked me if I had an iPod.  I told her I did not.  She knows that I like to listen to lectures and interviews and so does she.  She told me that numerous interviews can be downloaded for free through Apple’s iTunes site. She gave me a tour of the site and convinced me that you can, indeed, download thousands upon thousands of intriguing sounding interviews from NPR and numerous other sources. 

She saw that I was intrigued with this possibility.  She also knew that I ride a bike to work and I therefore was not able to listen to live radio during my commute.  She suggested that if I had an iPod, I could listen to all kinds of interesting things as I pedal to to work.  In fact, she went so far as to ask me whether I would promise to use an iPod if she gave me one.  I said “sure.” She ducked into the next room and emerged with a small box containing an iPod Shuffle, a device that is about as big as a postage stamp.  The shuffle holds 20 hours of music or interviews in its 1 GB memory.  The tiny kit comes with a charger/USB port that allows you to drag tunes and interviews into the Shuffle through the use of the iTunes interface.  It is all incredibly slick and easy to use.  I accepted this tiny though generous gift, only half-expecting it to work when I …

Share

Continue ReadingMy (belated) introduction to the world of iPod

A Song to an Atheist

I have a friend who wrote a song to me. (Free mp3 download courtesy of Anderson Productions, Ltd.) “Dear Friend” appeared on Russ Anderson’s 2003 album, “Arsenal Street”. All his CD’s are Available here. I recommend listening to the song before proceeding.

This nice, eerie, and sometimes psychedelic song is a heartfelt plea for me to discard my narrow, science-informed view of the world and just try to accept the ultimate truth of his favorite, ancient, re-translated book.
When my very Christian 11 year old nephew heard the song, he worried that it would anger me. He is fond of both Russ and myself, and the song conveys a basic disconnect. Conversations I’ve had with other Absolute Biblically Literal Truth Christians indicate that these are common misperceptions of atheist ideology.

Let’s examine some of the contentions in the song:

Share
Share

Continue ReadingA Song to an Atheist