What did she just say?

The way men and women verbally communicate with one another is very different. This cartoon of Zits is a representation of how differently the two sides communicate. She is talking about how women are so aware of everything, almost to a fault, while men are so oblivious sometimes they do not know what is going on. During the whole conversation Jeremy has no clue what is going on and just keeps trying to catch up in the conversation making grunts and huhs.

Although this cartoon takes it to an extreme, on some level this is true. I think women are socialized to be more in tune with what is going on around them, sometimes this is a great trait to have while other times it can be a problem because their attention to detail becomes overwhelming. Men on the other hand are better at not getting so involved with every little thing and minding their own business which also is good sometimes but other times can get them into trouble because they are not great at tuning back in when they need to. Also in cross-sex friendships “men tend to talk more, but keep the focus on themselves.” (Gamble and Gamble, p 156) Men talk more because they feel more comfortable, but talk about themselves because men are concerned with impressing women, even if they are just friends.

Sources: Michael W, Teri Kwal, Gamble (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Dad’s Can’t Dance!

Every now and then I get a text from my dad asking me to call him and things are always misspelled or he accidentally sends it before he finishes. My dad is very smart but the difference between his generation and mien are evident in how technologically savvy I was naturally and how hard he has to work to keep up. That just shows how different the two generations really are, and that makes it much harder to communicate. The way my generation talks about things parents sometimes have no clue what we are saying.

Zits

Not only is Zits one of my favorite cartoons but it is also very true the way that it portrays communication between parents and their kids. I can think back to times like both of these that were very similar with me and my parents. We have no ways of doing things such as dances, they are not even close to what they were when my parents were in High School and they just do not understand why people dance like that. As for the cartoon where his mom is waking him up and he says he is up just not up, I think almost every teenager has a story like this. These miss communications are what lead to teenagers who do not get along with their parents. The book says that it “found that teenagers who fail to get along well with their fathers are more liekely to smoke, drink, and use drugs than teenagers in average two-parent families.” (Gamble and Gamble P.205)

Sources: Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company