My freshman year of college, I was required to take a handful of communication classes as prerequisites for my journalism major. And I finally understand why the major is so popular.
If you ask anyone what the easiest or most useless college major is, they’ll most likely say communications. And while I wouldn’t dedicate four years of my academic life to pursue a degree in it, I have come to appreciate its prominence.
To me, the classes felt like they bordered on psychology. We dived into the neurological and biological aspects of how people think and function, even discussing the influence of psychological disorders.
Even now, almost a year after the classes have finished, I still find myself thinking about what I was taught. Not only does understanding the fundamentals shape how you approach others, it changes how you reflect on your inner self.
Attachment styles, for one. The type of love we receive as children shapes how we react and approach relationships as adults. Learning the attachment styles of others makes it easier to provide comfort and support. Coming to understand your own helps you realize your needs when it comes to relationships, romantic or otherwise.
Nowadays, people do not know how to communicate effectively. Studying interpersonal communication teaches you that an interaction only counts as communication if it has shared meaning. This is the degree to which both participants understand each others’ messages in the same way.
It also teaches you the idea of adopting multiple identities. Oftentimes, people accuse others of acting performative or fake depending on who they’re with. While this can be true to an extent, it is usually a purposeful distinction to match their audience. Think about it; you’re not going to address a professor the same way you’d address your best friend. These are two different identities.
Language determines how we perceive the world and, when used correctly, aids us in better understanding each other.
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