Interpersonal Communication in a Changing World Discussion #1

Interpersonal communication is described as the exchange of information between two or more people (Lustig and Jolene23). I have an idea of what you went through on that day when you visited the senior citizen Nursing Home. Age is a significant factor to consider while communicating with different people. For instance, you were fearful at first because you are young, and you were supposed to communicate with elderly people. You are not an exception because most persons feel the same especially when a young a person is supposed to communicate with older people. People preoccupy their mind with unnecessary fear when they are faced with this challenge (Stewart127). When you are in such a circumstance, the best action to take is to understand the people you are talking to and use a language that is appropriate to them.

Why do young people think that elderly people are different, and they require a unique form of communication? This notion is just a stereotype, and it often makes people develop the fear when they are supposed to communicate with their elders. You said that at first you feared, and you did not have an idea how you were going to spend that afternoon. But what happened after you started chatting with them, you realized it was not like the way you had thought at first. The point here is that speaking to elderly people is not much different from the way you speak to age mates (Lustig and Jolene76). You got a good experience that afternoon that is worth remembering. Tension will always be there at first when you are faced with a new circumstance but your confidence is very significant. It is still the same case when communicating to people from different cultures (Stewart161). Interpersonal communication remains a significant factor in effective interaction with the changing world.

Work Cited

Lustig, Myron W., and Jolene Koester. Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication across cultures. Boston, NJ: Allyn and Bacon, 2003.

Stewart, John Robert, ed. Bridges not walls: A book about interpersonal communication. McGraw-Hill, 2002.