Insensitive Listening

The different types of unhearing are categorized under insensitive listening. It occurs when an individual does not manage to appreciate or associate with what somebody is talking about in front of them. Such action can cause interruption, ignoring, and refusal to consider another person’s emotion or point of view. Such insensitive listening might have negative impacts on relationships as well as communications. Active listening should be practiced, as well as taking a real interest in what people are saying.

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Types of Insensitive Listening

Different forms of being an insensitive listener exist. Here are a few types: 

1. Selective Listening: This is where a person only concentrates on some items of the conversation that fit them, and no other things because of individual biases as well as interest.
2. Defensive Listening: If a person jumps into defensive and personalizes things right away, perhaps he or she will just miss out on what else the other person might be explaining and rather only defend himself/ herself.
3. Pseudo Listening: It happens when a person has a fake listening impression through merely nodding or appropriate mumbles with his/ her mind off to another matter and does not absorb any of the information.
4. Ambushing: This type of insensitive listening occurs whenever one person is listening with a motive and aims towards confrontation.
5. Insensitive Remarks: Insensitive listening happens when a person dismisses or says something not sensitive while forgetting to consider the effect that the comment has on one party.

Image source: https://medium.com/@nicknaqvi1/logan-paul-and-an-insensitive-generation-6dc009ca12ed 

However, there are various types of insensitive listening. The main types of insensitive listening are mentioned above. One needs to be conscious of these behavior patterns and make a deliberate effort in order to be an effective listener and caring individual.

Difference between Insensitive Listening and Normal Listening Process

The concept of the normal listening process consists of receiving, understanding, evaluating, and replying to a particular message sent over. All these steps must be actively involved in order to enhance communication and comprehension.
However, insensitive listening means that one fails to realize how the speaker is feeling and what he means. This is a form of inattention and does acknowledge feelings, needs, or concerns that you have for the other person as they speak. Insensitive Listening can result in miscommunications, worsened relations, and lost opportunities to connect.

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We should have an active and empathetic type of listening in which we pay attention to both what is being said and the feelings of the speaker, their body language, and the meanings hidden behind their words. It enhances effective and mutual communication among people in general.

Reasons for Insensitive Listening

There are many causes of insensitive listening. Some common reasons include:

• Distractions: This is because we might be busy thinking about ourselves, worries, or external distractions, which may limit what the speaker has to say from reaching us effectively.
• Lack of Empathy: At times, it might be hard for us to get into the speaker’s shoes and realize what he or she feels. This may lead to insensitive listening.
• Preconceived Notions: The truth is that we can be prejudiced about a speaker or topic and this hinders attentive and empathic listening abilities if we already hold predetermined opinions or biases.
• Lack of Interest: In addition, when we do not sincerely care about the discussion or the speaker, we might listen in an unfeeling manner, with little focus and attention.
• Poor Communication Skills: Not using effective skills in communication such as interruption and lack of clarification questions, is another cause of insensitive listening.
  
  

How to Overcome Insensitive Listening?

Here are a few strategies to overcome insensitive listening:

1. Practice Active Listening: Look at the speaker and what they say. Avoid distracting, have eye contact with the listener, smile, and nod while showing an attentive posture.
2. Cultivate Empathy: Try to imagine you are the speaker and view the matter from their view as well as feelings. Have an open ear and refrain from premature conclusions.
3. Avoid Interruptions: Listen without cutting off what the speaker is saying. Clarify or offer your thoughts after taking appropriate breaks as they occur.
4. Reflect and Paraphrase: Ensure that your understanding of what the speaker has said is accurate by summarizing it. Paraphrasing and reflecting demonstrate your engagement, and it also helps clear any misconceptions.
5. Be Mindful of Biases: Identify and refute your presumptions or prejudices. Always approach a conversation an open mind, without being judgmental.
   Seek Feedback: Give feedback to the speaker about your active listening. This is a way through which you can point out your weaknesses as a good listener of other people’s opinions and improve on them.

It takes a lot of practices, consecutive time management and patience to improve one’s listening skills. You can fight insensitive listening by trying to be aware, empathic, and open-minded in your communication and establish productive links with people around you.

Pseudo Listening 

Pseudo-listening refers to a situation where one appears to be attentive during a conversation but isn’t engrossed in it. While they appear to be listening through nodding and sounding like appropriate responses, the mind is elsewhere. It seems like they are pretending to listen; they do not even get it into their minds. The speaker may get frustrated with pseudo-listening as they would assume that the listener is interested and yet not really listening. For any form of communication to have meaning and be useful, it is necessary or vital for everyone involved to be available and attentively listen to one another.

Examples of pseudo-listening

Here are a few examples of pseudo-listening:

1. Nodding and Smiling: Pretend that you are telling your friend an important story, and the latter is nodding and smiling while you are narrating to them. On the one hand, when you question them about what they think or the contribution they have made, they appear dumb and simply unheard throughout the discussion.
2. Constantly Checking Devices: Pseudo listening happens when somebody is conversing with another person and keeps on checking other devices like phones. However, their bodies exist while their minds are more into the screen than the discussion.
3. Lack of Response or Engagement: A failure to give an impression of listening might be expressed through pseudo-listening. Take, for instance, if someone is talking about a matter of importance to them and this other person gives vague responses without apparent curiosity and fails to ask related questions.
4. Daydreaming or Distracted Behaviour: It is evident in such situations like when you are talking with somebody who seems to be lost in his/her thought and gazes into the distance, or gets distracted by other surroundings at ease in your words.

How to overcome pseudo-listening?

To overcome pseudo-listening, here are a few strategies to follow:

1. Be Mindful: Begin with an awareness of when you are practicing pseudo-listening. Be aware of indicators like daydreaming, inappropriate responses, or failure to recall information.
2. Active Listening: Listen actively, using eye contact, nodding, and giving verbal cues to indicate the degree of attention.
3. Remove Distractions: For example, put away your phone or find a quiet place and try minimizing external distractions so that you may concentrate on the conversation.
4. Show Genuine Interest: Try to authentically care about the conversation and the other person. Demonstrate your engagement by asking questions, seeking clarifications, and being curious.
5. Practice Empathy: Take yourself to the other side of the speaker and try to see things from their eye point of view. Doing this will give you an ability to connect at a deep level with them and really hear what they’re saying.
6. Reflect and Recap: Pause after the talk and think about what was said. In order to confirm active listening, sum up key points and share your comprehension.
   

However, overcoming “pseudo listening” can be done with long practice. You can improve your listening skills by being attentive to your surroundings and participating more actively in conversations.

Pseudo Listening in association with social media

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Pseudo-listening is not limited to phone calls only. It may even apply to social media environments. For example, a person may encounter information they do not want while communicating with someone else on Snapchat. This would mean that although they will be able to pretend to listen by scrolling and skimming their feeds with no actual intent of listening their feeds with no actual intent to listen. This can take place if only to be scrolling, as the case may be, or to keep abreast of so much stuff in their feeds. However, it is essential to be aware of this tendency and strive for authentic engagement and intercourse with the content and conversation on social media.

Difference between Pseudo listening and real listening

Pseudo-listening is defined as an exercise where one pretends to be listening despite the fact that one’s mind is preoccupied with other things. It looks like we are attentive, while it is just an illusion and the matter does not concern the mind. Though pseudo listening through nodding, making eye contact, and using minimal verbal cues, there is not much real understanding or connection.

Image source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945222003252

Whereas real listening demands paying attention to what the speaker is saying with a full comprehension of the intended meaning and giving one’s undivided ear to him or her. This type of hearing entails being there on the spot, noticing what is being said and nonverbalized, and trying to grasp the speaker’s standpoint. The concept entails being attentive, showing empathy, raising inquisitive questions among other things and delivering considerate answers.

Pseudo-listening may appear genuine. However, sometimes it is difficult to understand the activities occurred due to pseudo-listening. Real listening entails more than comprehension. It encompasses connection and creating real relationships between individuals.

Research on Pseudo Listening 

There is a lot of research conducted on pseudo listening. Here are a few of the findings: 

• Miscommunication: However, it might result in miscommunications when conducting pseudo listening. Studies show that one’s attention span decreases while pseudo-listening, causing one to lose some crucial information or understand the real significance of the message.
• Lack of Connection: Poor relationships can also be developed due to pseudo-listening. Pseudo-listening has proved that people involved in such are seen as un-empathetic, less trusted, and often having strained relations with other people.
• Reduced Information Retention: In most instances, pseudo-listening leads to low comprehension and recall of information. Pseudo-listening research shows that such people remember information imprecisely and cannot participate fully in conversations or give considered answers.
• Decreased Satisfaction: Pseudo-listening is likely to influence negatively relationship satisfaction. It has been observed that people who believe that they are being put through pseudo-listening by their partners report low relationship satisfaction as well as reduced emotional support.
  

This underscores why real listening is necessary for appropriate communication and strong relationships. Real listening promotes better understanding of others, improved ties, and healthier relations as well.

Conclusion

Image source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945222003252 

Pseudo-listening, therefore, does worse than well when it comes to communication and relations. This may result to inadequate clarifications, poor development of relationships, less retrieval of data, and lower satisfaction. Real listening where people are present, attentive, and involved during conversation, fosters better communication for stronger relationships. When we listen actively, and show sympathy to other people’s problems and feelings, we will improve our comprehension of other people’s minds, earn others’ confidence, and form mutual relations.