The most interesting part in interpersonal communication is the definition of "distance". As it is defined in the reading, distance is described as it "provides necessary space for each communicative partner to contribute to the relationship" (P 121). In my understanding, distance means that in a set of concentric circles, surely, the base point is ourselves, we define and select the ways concerning how we cope with different relationships with groups of people, what kinds of information we can share with them and different attitudes we used under different circumstances. Definitely, one principle should be being understandable and respectful as always.
As there are distances working in interpersonal communication, we have strategies to deal with these various relationships; additionally, the distances are flexible, and we can determine to change these distances with our personal purposes. As the second assumption described in reading, it says "The second assumption is that interpersonal communication nourishes the relationship in order to bond responsibility between persons, not to further careers or advance political agendas" (P 122), the flexibility in determining interpersonal distance is the necessity we need to bond or loose the relationships under different contexts; in other words, we may need some information or something else from others and that is the reason that we adjust the distances contextually. The only exception in changing distances in interpersonal relationship might be family members and best friends forever without sever fights.
You bring up a really important point that interpersonal communication is about nourishing the relationship. At first thought it may seem that distance hurts relationships but in reality it is so important and necessary to relationships of all kinds. Distance makes it easier to see what problems in relationships may be and provide a space and time to figure out how to fix that problem.
ReplyDeleteI think another part of the book this connects to is the idea of common sense. People have certain attitudes about what constitutes a good relationship and may think having distance is simply common sense while others may come from a place where distance has never been valued. This reiterates the necessity to understand that people come from different backgrounds and that affects the way we live our everyday lives and the ways we interact with people.