How to Have a Better Conversation

Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation perfectly presented why having conversations today is as difficult as it’s ever been. Some of her statements didn’t shock me however some I had no idea about. For instance, I was not surprised by Headlee’s statement that America is more divided than it ever has been, even though the TED Talk is 4 years old. However I didn’t realize that because of how divided we are, we’re more likely to judge people based on what we already know, which hinders us from being open-minded. Her tips on having better conversations intrigued me because I had never thought about them. Headlee stated that ignoring your own opinions during a conversation allows you to be open-minded, and maybe even learn something you didn’t know. Additionally, she states you’ll get more out of a conversation if you ask someone open ended questions or questions that create a more interesting response. Lastly, I was surprised Headlee said to not compare your experiences with someone else's because most people do that on a regular basis when having a conversation.

Hopefully you can change the way you converse with people after hearing her tips.

Click here to view 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation

Comments

How Police Respond: Op-doc

If you have watched the news at all within the past 10 years, you’d know that guns and use of deadly force by police officers are relevant and recurring topics. Most of the time when we think about guns in the media, horrific events like mass shootings come up. However, in 2014, toy guns had everyone's attention. Cases such as the shooting of John Crawford and 12 year old Tamir Rice made headlines from their similar deaths that were only a few months apart. Filmmakers and married couple Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert examine these cases in their op-doc, No Guns For Christmas. Both people were fatally shot by police after false 911 calls about them waiving a gun around, when in both cases, each person was holding a fake gun. Initially the documentary seems to be about mistaken people frantically calling 911 and police acting violently despite having zero evidence, however the documentary is about race being a significant factor in their deaths. The documenta...

Mentor Blogs

Here are three blogs that are important to me because they discuss my hobbies. The Science of Running is a blog about training for long distance running. This blog is particularly helpful as it gives guides to training, injury prevention, and eating as a runner. There are also posts regarding scientific data on running which help back up the claims made about the training. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies to do, however preparing scrambled eggs and making peanut butter sandwiches can get pretty boring after a while. Kitchn is a good blog for people like myself who enjoy cooking or baking because it shows easy and creative recipes that most people can follow. If you are interested in soccer, I recommend Goal.com . They post the most current soccer news, scores, and highlights from recent games, and they make it easy to follow. Because of the huge variety in the posts, this blog is perfect for dedicated fans of the s...

The Rise of Toxic Masculinity and How to Fix it

Whether we realize it or not, the idea and concept of “manhood” has always had a place in our society, and it’s rapidly changing to conform to our modern views. Boys Are Not All Right by Michael Ian Black, Not Your Father’s Masculinity, by Matt Labash, and the documentary Tough Guise 2 by Jason Katz are 3 pieces that shine light on the issues of modern day “manhood” and how we got to this point Tough Guise 2 goes the most in depth out of all three of the pieces because the hour and a half long documentary covers many different topics and arguments, mostly shedding light on violence caused by men. The documentary seems to point to the fact that men commit violent acts because of their DNA but he also seems to argue that the reason they act violent has to do with more men feeling that their masculinity is being taken away due to movements such as feminism. Katz talks about how some men commit sadistic acts such as rape or mass shootings to be viewed as more masculine. He also states ...

Writing 105

Search This Blog