This week, the blog assignment was to watch a television show that I was unfamiliar with, first without the sound and then with the sound. I was surprised to see how much I could understand without being able to hear anything. I was able to correctly identify emotions ranging from nervousness and frustration to disgust and grief. I was able to correctly identify the status and type of relationships the characters were involved in as well. Nonverbal communicators such as proximity, touch, body language, facial expressions, and physical actions helped send clear messages in terms of the emotions and feelings involved in each relationship. I found that in very important scenes during the show I could actually read lips to learn about what was happening.
Although I could still understand much about what was going on in the show, I found it a little boring to watch without the sound. I was missing out on the punch lines and the details that make life so interesting. Many of the important elements were lost in translation. Once I watched the same episode with the sound turned on, I was able to read into even more of the nonverbal signals than I was the first time. If I was watching a show that I was familiar with I probably would have been able to make even more accurate interpretations of what was happening the first time I watched.
Overall, I thought this assignment was fun and interesting. I learned how powerful nonverbal communication really is and how quickly one can adapt to life without sound. I also learned that I much prefer to hear people express themselves through words so that I don't have to guess at what they are trying to say.
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI too was amazed by how much I was able to decipher from the show without the sound. I thought it was amazing that I could read lips as well. You brought up some great points about the nonverbal communicators such as proximity, touch, facial expressions, and body language and how they send clear messages. I found this assignment so eye opening as it appears you did of how much we really do communicate through nonverbal interactions.
I think voice inflection also tells quite a lot about how we communicate. The inflection of the voice could indicate how we are feeling. For example, if the voice goes up that could indicate a person is nervous. You can learn a lot from the television show with no sound but with the sound you can learn quite a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised on how well I was able to identify what was going on in the show that I watched. I ended up liking the show that I am going to be recording it all of the time. I originally picked this show because it looked good in previews. I like the show with it being mute or not mute.
ReplyDeleteHello Mary,
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that you learned a great deal about nonverbal communication from this experience. So did I! I also enjoyed the show I saw a lot more with the sound turned on. I did find it amusing with the sound turned off though because of the facial expressions. It kept me in suspense and wanting to know exactly what was going on. I didn’t realize how much could be learned from nonverbal communication until this assignment. Paying close attention to those things helped me to figure out the general problem and feelings in the show. Thank you for sharing!
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI found that when I watched the show without sound, it was very boring and I would tend to forget I was supposed to be watching it. I do agree the assignment was very interesting and it helped us to see how important it is to communicate by having sound and being able to hear and understand what was said. I could almost tell what was going on by the facial expression and reading the lips as well. I was right when I listen to it with sound. I now understand how people feel when they live in a world and can not hear anything. Good Post!