Discussion
Why do you think people have such a hard time avoiding complaining, criticizing, and condemning? (ex: you have bad service at a restaurant and post it immediately on Twitter) Why do you think it’s so easy to focus on the negative, but more difficult to affirm the good and communicate it? (ex: you send a classmate a nasty email when he misses a deadline on your group project) How is it that we can be our own worst enemies and work against our core desires by using communication styles or habits that directly contradict what we want most in the image we portray to others? (ex: Celebrity Instagram posts are often “monologue-type” in that characteristics of interested in making money, fake, and conceited often are front and center) Do you (or someone you know) spend time connecting with others, being viewed as authentic and interested in meeting everyone’s needs, or do you lead with a lot of “I” statements and come across as needy or manipulative? In what ways do you feel that social media and technology in general have changed the way we communicate with each other? What is most dangerous to communication and meeting our core desires?
