COMMUNICATION/PEOPLE

Shut Up and Let Me Talk

Constant interruptions show a lack of respect

What is it about you that you need to be the center of conversation? Are you not aware that I am not finished talking yet? Don’t you know that interrupting means cutting me off when I am in the middle of speaking?

Don’t you know that when you interrupt, you, as a listener, force me, the speaker, to give up my role as a speaker and become a listener?

I haven’t finished talking yet. Let me finish. After all, communication relies on trust and respect for the conversation to be productive and for both parties to leave it feeling heard.

Listen to me now because now I am in control. You cannot interrupt my fingers from typing. After all, literary interruption differs from conversation interruption. Literary interruption is called anacoluthon. Anacoluthon is a literary device that happens when the expected grammatical structure of a sentence is interrupted by another sentence.

Here is a small lesson I’d like to share with you: listening openly shows respect, reduces misunderstandings, and keeps emotions manageable.

We all know that unpleasant feeling when we are talking about something interesting, and halfway through our sentence, the listener barges in with their own stories and agenda.

However, not all interruptions are bad. The listener repeating communicates a neutral or communicative interruption or explaining something the speaker has said. This is cooperative because what the listener has to say is connected to the speaker’s conversation and is not an act to take over from the speaker.

And then there is the power or competitive interruption

A power interruption occurs when the listener cuts off the speaker to exert power over them. It is an act of competition and confrontation that disrespects the speaker.

While cooperative interruption adds value to the speaker, competitive or power interruption disrupts it. Power interruptions are impolite, even rude, and the most disruptive kind of interruption.

Do you understand what I am saying?

When you interrupt, you show that what I am saying is less important than what you have to say — that you do not respect me enough to grant me my time. Hence, you appear to be egotistical, uncontrolled, and lacking self-discipline.

Everyone wants to feel heard, but the relationship will erode if you don’t want to listen. I don’t need you to assert your power, knowledge, and ideas at my expense.

After all, constant interruptions show a lack of respect for me and my thoughts. They also show apparent self-centeredness.

So, shut up and let me finish talking. Please!