Communication

 This week I had the opportunity to understand communication through an episode on a television. I watched the TV series “Cougar town”. The main character there caught my interest; COURTNEY COX. Watching without sound left me with questions and uncertainty; I did not really know the relationship between the characters. Although I could give certain assumptions based the context and the non-verbal cues expressed by the characters but they might not be correct. The communication skills used included verbal, non-verbal (facial expressions, gestures) writing and listening. I could not really tell what the episode was about without the volume. In the first scene, I noticed Jules (Courtney Cox) talking with friends in a kitchen, it seems like they are friends with her, I guessed because their facial expressions and gestures reflected a more casual relationship. Also Courtney is seeing a therapist, but I do not know for what purpose. I did not know if she had any other relationship with the therapist outside her visitations. I also guessed she is married because I saw her with a man on a bed talking. The scene when they showed three men in place like a bar. I do not know who they were and their relationship or what they were discussing, although their facial expression seems casual, expressing lots of smiles. I noticed a particular female character that her facial expressions and gestures shows a lot of anger, but I do not know why or how serious. I noticed a scene where a lady came into what seems like a departmental store and spoke to two men. The man that looked older gave the younger one a sign by bending his head, indicating to be excused. I guess he wanted to interact with the lady; which he did in another scene. I could go on with assumptions from different scenes but that does not really tell what the episode was all about.

When I watched the volume on, I did not really enjoy it as I would have with TV shows/series that I normally watch. Some of my assumptions were somehow correct. The three ladies at the first scene seemed like friends with their conversations, and the lady expressing so much non verbal anger as well as verbal which I now heard, was angry because she had feelings for Travis a character who is probably the son of Jules (COURNEY COX) so she takes it out of everyone. I assumed the female therapist was more of a friend when there was no sound I realized, she just made the proposal for friendship during the sessions, which the therapist loved the idea. I was right about the man I called her husband and I got to know her reason for therapy which was because of her obsession with monitoring people. I was confused with Travis being her son yet he calls some man his dad, I guess because I did not have any previous information about the characters .After watching the whole episode, I realize I would have enjoyed it better and not be doubtful, if I had being watching it before.

I believe that with this experience I have come to the understanding that for communication to be effective and serve its purpose; all necessary factors must be in place. We need to consider the individuals involved in the conversations, relationships, communication skills used, contexts, and our schema on them as well as the   purpose  and goals of the communication in order to avoid confusions, assumptions, misunderstanding  and complete communication failure . When we don’t apply the right requirement then our communication would not serve its purpose. We need to use the right skill, for the right situation and for the right purpose and people then  it would be effective.