I thought I had a complete understanding of interpersonal communication but this chapter brought up other dimensions I had failed to notice - such as distance. Personally, I thought interpersonal communication was all about communicating physically in person in small groups. This chapter highlighted the importance of the distance and how it benefits relationships (from this we learn how to strengthen the relationship).
I applied this is to my early high school experience. I attended a high school where my mom was a counselor at. Seeing my mom both at school and at home was the last thing my rebellious teenage self wanted to deal with. After battles between my mom and I due to the constant interaction, it was evident change was needed. I transferred schools which allowed distance for the relationship, as noted in the book, "Distance permits us to see the details more clearly" (124). Having time apart brought a new light and excitement to when we were together to catch up on our lives, which in return, allowed me to value my mom and I's relationship once again.
I thought I had a grip on this concept too before I read this chapter. I mean, it's just a relationship between two people, it can't be that difficult to explain. Well, I was obviously wrong. There are so many elements to interpersonal communication that I have not thought about. I, too, found the concept of distance to be interesting. It seriously explains why I have seen relationships fall apart because there isn't an equal understanding of distance between the people in the relationship. It's cool that you had the opposite story where you were able to give the relationship with you and your mom the appropriate distance so that you could get to a better place.
ReplyDeleteHello Allison! Thank you for sharing your ideas and your own story with your mom. I really agree upon the ideas about distance. I knew briefly about what was interpersonal communication, but didn't really notice about this concept, "distance". As book says, distance is necessary to sustain well our relationship with people becasue we need our own space to contemplate about ourselves and to keep ourselves in a minimum courtesy toward each other. For example, when we interpersonally communicate with our close friends, we tend to say something bad that we didn't expect because we overlook the necessity of distance. Likewise, as you mentioned about the story with your mom, it applies to our family members too! I am also tryting to be good at this part so that I can sustain my own relationship with peopel around me and be successful in interpersonal communication.
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